Devil Emperor
by Trafford
Summary: Age of Gods, Cataclysm or Conjunction of Spheres. Age of Calamity has many names and soon will come. Follow the story of Zarathul Bael and of Imperium of Devil. OC Protagonist X Harem, Wars, Kingdom-Building, Strong MC...
1. Beginning of Infinity

** Chapter 1: Beginning of Infinity**

If one were to ask, what was the most powerful pillar among the 72 Pillars of the Underworld, it would be the Bael House. After the death of the original four Maous, it was the first Bael, Zekram Bael who became the de-facto leader of the Underworld, together with the Great King Faction. They were the ones who filled the emptiness after the death of original satans and stabilized the Underworld.

Now many years has passed from the time, but the House of Bael still stood proudly on top of the pyramid. Yes, there existed Four Great Satans, but alas they were more like some icon than real leaders. They were heroes from the Civil War, that was the truth, but real political power was in the hands of Elder Council and various Pillars.

* * *

Zekram Bael was the first generation Bael. First Great King right-hand of the original Lucifer. After his fall, he became the leader of all Devils and his House was something like the royal family of the devil kind. Even when new Four Great Satans emerged, it didn't change anything for the Bael House as they were still the most powerful house in the political field.

Currently, Zekram Bael had long retired, at least on the surface. Even though he retired, current Lord Bael didn't make even one decision without consulting it with the first generation. This only show, how much influence Zekram held, despite not being so active in politics.

Zekram is a middle-aged looking man with black hair and peaceful violet eyes and wears noble attire. He has an aura of strong dignity that exudes from him. On the surface, the Underworld and Anti-Maou Faction only had two Super Devils.

Ajuka Beelzebub and Sirzechs Lucifer, two of the current Four Great Satans. In the dark, even though not many people knew about it, there existed more. Like Rivezim Livan Lucifer, son of original Lucifer, who went rogue or Zekram Bael, who 'secluded' himself from the world. On the surface at least.

Today, Zekram Bael was sitting on the courtyard of his castle, that was located in some unknown mountain range in the Underworld. He was sitting there and drinking green tea, that was prepared by servants. Flags of the Bael Clan with a purple flower were decorating the castle.

He wasn't alone in the courtyard. There was a young man training, with the dark-red spear in his hands. The spear itself was beautifully crafted, with various runes were carved in it and it was constantly radiating blood aura of slaughter.

He looked around 17 - 18 years old and his he had pitch-black hair, with silver lines mixed in them. His purple eyes together with his stance were giving very noble aura, like that of King or Emperor. He was very handsome, one could say he looked like some prince charming.

Suddenly the Crimson Aura of Power of Destruction started enveloping the spear as the young man slashed forward with his spear, destroying all training dummies before him. One must know, that those weren't ordinary training dummies, but enhanced with magic.

"Good, very good Zarathul. Your control over Power of Destruction became stronger, now you can coat your spear with it as much as you want."

Said Zekram happily after he saw the success that young man, Zarathus accomplished.

"Thank you, father. Without your guidance, it would take me much longer to achieve what I have accomplished."

Zekram Bael didn't have many descendants on his own. Only a few of them, but sadly most of them already died. He was the longest-lived devil of their race. Truth to be told, there wasn't anyone that has lived so long, every devil would be killed sooner or later in the past due to constant wars.

Zarathul was his last remaining direct descendant, his son. He was born around two hundred years ago, after the end of the Civil War against the Old Satan Faction. He was an extremely talented young man, and after the death of his mother, Zekram was taking care of him, by himself. Even across the Underworld, only those devils of 72 Pillars were aware of his existence, others not.

He remained together with him secluded from the rest of the world, training for that what will come. Zekram Bael was the very old devil and he was even more cunning than he was old. He knew that peace lasted for too much. Soon, the war would be coming, and there were, of course, many internal and external problems that devils were facing.

"Father I want to leave to get a new peerage member. I am also done with refining my Evil Pieces to mutate them as you have instructed."

Said Zarathul with excitement in his voice. There were many secrets that powerful devils and old devils were keeping for themselves. For example one of them was that there existed a method to make all Evil Pieces mutate. It was a very tiresome process and took too much time. The process was simple, one would refine every piece in his Demonic Energy, forcefully mutating them. The disadvantage was that it took too much time. More than century to be precise.

"You can. Go to visit Bael Castle when you leave and say hello to your family there. I heard that the kid Sairaorg, despite the fact he didn't inherit the Power of Destruction was able to attain formidable power and go to see Sirzechs, he would be able to give you a few pointers about the Power of Destruction, he is also a natural genius in using it."

Remarked Zekram when he answered to Zarathul's question.

"Also, if you want to go to participate in the Young Devil's Gathering this year."

The reason, why he was allowed to participate in the Young Devil's Gathering, was simple. Even though he was over 200 years old, most of that time, he was in a deep sleep due to his special condition. He was born with special lineage from his mother's side.

Anti-Magic.

Because he was born with Anti-Magic and Power of Destruction, he was forced to be under deep sleep and wake up once for ten years until his powers would be assimilated and won't pose threat to him.

Power of Destruction was the trademark of the Bael Clan and it is a type of demonic energy, that grants its users great explosive power and can completely annihilate things when used. On the other hand, Anti-Magic was basically a series of special innate abilities to disrupt and destroy magic in general. Be it normal magic, magical circles or anything that had mana in it. For example, most notable Anti-Magic spell was called Gram Demolition, that demolished record of Magic. It disrupts mana is spells and magic circles, causing them to disperse or explode on the spot.

"Zarathul, have you progressed with the Magic Body Infusement?"

Asked Zekram with great curiosity. Magic Body Infusement was a special method that allowed individual to infuse a huge amount of Magic Power and Demonic Power to their bodies, thus making their bodies extremely strong. This was Zarathul's idea after he found out, that he had no talent in Senjutsu and Touki after conversing and training with his [Bishop] and Sairaorg.

"For now good, but it is becoming harder and harder to make any progress in the Magic Body Infusement. You need the almost impossible amount of magic power and demonic power to reach an Ultimate-Class in Body Level. One could say, it is almost as hard as the mastering Touki and Senjutsu. Also, compared to them, it is lacking explosiveness of Touki, but the effects of Magic Body Infusement are permanent, albeit bit weaker compared to the usage of Touki."

Said Zarathul as he experimented with Magic Body Infusement. He was a bit disappointed that he had zero talent in Senjutsu and Touki thus he decided to search for another alternative. Together with his friend researcher, Maou Ajuka Beelzebub, they find a specific way for devils to increase their body strength by infusing magic and demonic power into them.

"Zarathul, who do you want to recruit to your peerage this time? I recall last time, you created huge problems and demolished the whole forest when you fought against your Queen."

Said Zekream and Zarathul started feeling as grim reaper was standing before him. One must admit that his father was a very strict and dutiful person. When Zarathul was recruiting his [Qeen], they had fought and destroyed the whole forest. It took combined works of tens magicians to re-create forest that they have destroyed. Of course, Zarathul got a huge scolding for that, but alas he recruited very strong [Qeen] and she was also pure-blood devil from some extinct devil clan.

"Crom Cruach."

Said Zarathul with a very low voice, hoping that his father won't be able to hear him. Unfortunately for him, his father's senses were very good and he heard that name very clearly as he started screaming at him the moment the heard the name.

"Are you insane kid? You are thinking about recruiting the Crescent Circle Dragon, strongest Evil Dragon in existence? Do you wanna be killed?"

Zekram was amazed at the insanity of his son. Trying to recruit Crom Cruach, probably the strongest Evil Dragon in existence was pure suicide. Even though Zarathul was Ultimate-Class Devil, 2nd-Tier to be precise, he was still like an ant compared to the behemoth like Crom Cruach.

"But Uncle Rizevim told me it is safe and he will persuade Crom Cruach to become one of my peerages, besides that, I have several muted rooks prepared for him to reincarnate him into Devil Dragon."

Said Zarathul in an innocent voice as he looked fearfully at his father who was now very angry. This behavior started when his mother died, as his father was then protective of him. He let him leave the Castle, only when he reached High-Class standard of power and even then he was secretly monitored by Ultimate-Class Devil. Now, this wasn't necessary, as Zarathul was rather strong and experienced many Life and Death situations that tempered him as a warrior, but when he had so-called suicidal ideas he would still be scolded by his father.

The devil could gain more Evil Pieces than they have by hunting stray devils and taking Evil Pieces from those strays. This was considered a secret between old nobles and Clan Heads of Pillar Houses. Aside from them, very few people were aware of this method. Of course, Zekram taught this method to his son, when he received his Evil Pieces. By using this method, you could either strengthen your already existing Peerage by infusing more Evil Pieces into them or gaining new members. A better choice was, of course, strengthening already existing Peerage Members, cause having too many peerage members could be a stain on your soul and it had also some minor disadvantaged. On the other hand, strengthening already existing Peerage members was better as they could unlock their potential and you could reincarnate stronger people into your peerage.

"Rivezim told you? That ungrateful bastard, just waits when I find him, Super Devil or not, I am one too and I will beat him into pulp for feeding you with this non-sensed."

After Zekram finished this sentence, the cheerful voice sounded from another end of the courtyard.

"Oya, Oya, come on Zekram why must you be always so serious man? I thought it would be more fun with you, but I see that with age you are becoming more and more like some skeleton who don't understand humor."

Rivezim had the appearance of a middle-aged man in his forties with dark silver hair and hazel eyes. He had a silver beard on his chin and was radiating weird creepy aura around his body. He also wore same Maou Lucifer attire as Sirzechs, although in silver color.

"Yes I not understand, I do not understand your non-sense you are spouting. What are you scheming Rivezim? At first, you came here, with that kid, Vali and you brought him here for him to obtain his own Evil Pieces. Before that, you brought him that spear, Gáe Bolg, that you have probably stolen from the Celtic Pantheon and now you are in cahoots with Crom Cruach?"

Asked Zekram with a suspicious voice as he looked at Rivezim. Zarathul just sat down onto the ground and looked at both of them as they were quarreling. They were always like this. When they met they would create havoc as they got into argument.

"Why must you be suspicious of everything Old Zekky? Kids are family so they should get along. Also, that thing about Crom Cruach is not non-sense but I have really managed to persuade him to become a member of his peerage. It needed only small promise, that all."

Said Rivezim with innocent smile totally not getting along with his face and personality. Zekram's expression twitched in anger when he heard the nickname, 'Old Zekky' how Rivezim called him.

"What did you primed him? Gold? Treasures? Female Dragons or Devils?"

Aksed Zekram with amusement as he looked at Rivezim.

"Possibility to be in the center of the next Great War, far greater than anything before us. Zekram you have felt it too, don't? War is coming, something unknown and something powerfull will strike us all. Devil society is divided into several factions and is too weak to resist. I know what have you been doing for the last two hundred years and I think my actions have helped you a good deal. Soon this whole world would be turned into one huge battlefield when the Age of Gods would return and we will be standing in the middle of it."

Even though Zekram didn't like Rivezim, he admitted he is right in all points. Devil Society of today was dived in several factions, and mostly these factions didn't get well along with each other. First one was Ars Goetia or 72 Pillars, now only 34 Pillars that remained. Another faction was that of Extra Demons, that secluded themselves from politics for centuries and didn't interact with them. The last faction was that of Reincarnated Devils from other races. the state of Underworld wasn't good, truth to be told it was terrible. There was only one solution and that was to untie all devils under a single banner, but that was not possible for now. This merit could be achieved only by overwhelming strength, and not even Sirzechs Lucifer, the current strongest devil achieved that merit.

But there was a chance for it, and that chance was names External Threat. It was known, among the higher-ups of various Pantheons, that soon or later, Age of Gods would descend once again, when Calamity would happen. Weak would perish and strong would become stronger. Christianity Pantheon was one of weakest due to them being divided. Sadly compared to Angels and Fallen Angels, Devils were divided even more and thus were in rather a bad position.

"I know Rivezim, I have worked on this for centuries, after the so-called Great War and after our Civil War. Fortunately, my work already started bearing first fruits, with almost all of the Elder Council agreed to my suggestion. Next thing would be to stabilize the situation with Reincarnated Devils as their numbers are becoming larger and larger. If the current situation would continue, the only result that awaits us is another Civil War so I already took necessary preparations. The only thing we are lacking now is someone to be the one who would lead."

Said Zekram to Rivezim as both of them looked at the same direction, where Zarathul was peacefully sitting in the cross-legged position and meditating. All that training he did, blood and sweat were only with one goal. To become the leader of the next generation. Same when Lucifer and other three satans build the Devil Society and led armies to the Great War. Same when current Four Great Satans lead the Anti-Satan Faction in the Civil War.

Both he and his father were aware of the importance of strong leadership. His father hoped that he would be able to become the leader of next-generation, next Maou, but not with the title of Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan or Asmodeus. The leader with the supreme title of Satan, because of that Zekram poured a huge amount of resources in grooming his son, because he saw talent in him. Devil Race was very vulnerable because they were divided and they lived in peace for more than several hundred years. Soon enough times would change and they would need to fight again and be united.

"I will send Crom Cruach here after a week or so. He said if the kid is able to fight him properly he wouldn't mind becoming his servant. After all, that dragon is a pure battle maniac so if Zarathul gives him a good fight, he might agree to the proposition. Oy, nephew I will pray for you, hahaha..."

Said Rivezim as laughed and after that he conjured magic circle and teleported away, leaving Zekram and Zarathul in the courtyard alone.

"Father, when the Age of Gods arrives what would happen?"

Asked Zarathul after he opened his eyes from meditation. His father often mentioned the name, Age of Gods or he called it also, Cataclysm, but he never said what it would be. The only thing he said, it would be a catastrophe of unpredictable size, a war that would engulf all living things.

"Conjunction of Spheres is the real name. Nobody knows when it would happen, but when it happens, it would cause war. Various spheres would open, dimensional paths would be connected and it would be possible to travel between worlds. It happened once, a long long time ago, albeit on a much smaller scale. When the dimensional paths would open it is an opportunity to invade the world on the other side and plunder resources, but you must know, as we can invade others, even we can be invaded by others. This is my greatest fear, that we would be invaded by the powerful enemy and because our incompetence to create united devil nation, we would be annihilated."

'Conjunction of Spheres. So it is true in the end. I have read several things about it in ancient scrolls, heavenly opportunity or eternal damnation awaits us? If we are able to invade some magical world and obtain enough resources, we could rise our strength to be able to resist strong Panthons like Indian or Norse.'

Said Zarathul to himself as he thought about various possibilities in his mind.

"Heavenly opportunity or Eternal Damnation. If we are able to obtain more resources, we could raise our standing in the supernatural world. Currently, the Norse Pantheon, Greek, Indian Pantheon, Shinto Pantheon or Celestial Court of Jade Emperor are able to wipe is in a matter of days. So father, if we want to survive we must unite and fight as one Devil Race?"

Asked Zarathul in a curiosity. Currently, there were many Pantheons that are able to wipe them out in a matter of days. Even though Devils had two Super Devils, they were not enough to protect against Pantheons full of Gods.

"Yes, we need to move quickly as in a few years the Conjunction of Spheres would happen. You need to reach the level of Super Devil as quickly as possible and if not Super Devil than at least Satan Class. I have already started moving all the pieces. When those terrorists from Old-Satan Faction would strike again, we could use that opportunity to push up the unification of Devil kind under a single banner. Fortunately we have managed to solve the problem with King Piece when it was invented as that could brig us massive trouble and the standing of Reincarnated Devils is not so bad compared to the past, but still, there are many things that need our attention."

Said Zekram to his son, as Zarathul nodded his head.

"So you are basically using the Old-Satan Faction as a scapegoat to speed up our unification? What about the Four Great Satans?"

Asked Zarathul as he knew that his father would use everything to achieve his goal. The goal of preservation of Devils and their prosperity.

"I have already talked about Sirzechs about this and he agreed to my plan. Truly the younger generation is more progressive compared to us old men. Because he refused the offer to be a leader, you need to get stronger as fast as possible. Those four are aware of the fact, our society is slowly declining and that were are becoming like a target for other powers in the Underworld such as Hades and his grim reapers."

This was certainly a piece of good news, that Sirzechs agreed to the plan, as he was strongest Super Devil in their faction. Current Four Great Satans were modern, we could call it like that. Progressive was another term. As all of them were aware of the tension in the Underworld between Reincarnated Devils and High-Class Devils. Even though Zekram managed to do some things in shadows to improve the standing of Reincarnated Devil to avoid another Civil War, it was still not enough. Maybe now with help o Four Maous, it would get better. Zekram already controlled almost whole Elder Council and most of the Clan Heads. Only some of them were bit reluctant, but that would disappear with the new threat of Old-Satan Faction.

"Father I would be going now, to see how my peerage is doing, so if you excuse me."

Said Zarathul with a polite bow as he exited the courtyard and went to his peerage members, consisting of only [Qeen] and [Bishop] pieces.

* * *

Zarathul returned to his part of the castle, where his two peerage members were already waiting for him. Kuroka was former Stray Devil, Nekoshou whom Zarathul saved, when he exposed deed that the Naberius, her former master committed. This gave Zekram huge opportunity to cleanse few of his political rivals and those who didn't support changed he was going to do. Even now, after year he was still using that incident to his advantage, as it could speel another war with Shinto Faction and Youkai Faction if they exterminated Nekomatas that were living in the Underworld.

She was from already extinct devil clan, Partas Clan that not lived in the Underworld despite being devils. She wandered around the various realms of this plane, searching for the strong opponents to fight. She originated from Asgard as her clan relocated there before the Great War between three factions. All members of her clan were in-born fighters and warriors and despite being devils they were respected in the Asgard, to point Esdeath was for some time even Valkyrie, only Devil Valkyrie in existence. Sadly, her clan was massacred in a fight with the Fire Giants of the Muspellheim and then she left Asgard. One time, she found Zarathul and they fought. Of course, Zarathul won, but then happened something unexpected. Esdeath went to him and aggressively kissed, proclaimed his as her husband. Zarathul then took her with her to the Underworld where she became his Queen of the Bael Amy that was newly reformed by Zekram Bael and was responsible for conquering many lost regions which belonged to the extinct pillars. Her cruelty and sadism in the fight were widely known, as her very good treatment of her subordinates. Even though she looked rather scary, she deeply loved Zarathul and after some time, he returned her feelings to her.

She was also, fianceé of Zarathul as she was pure-blooded Devil from the noble clan, despite her clan left the Underworld. Esdeath had very high prestige in the Underworld as she often leads troops in skirmished against the Old-Satan Faction or wild monsters that were roaming the Underworld. She already reclaimed two territories belonging to the Extinct Pillars that were the territory of wild beasts, thus expanding the Bael Territory. Even current Lord Bael showed fear of her, but he was happy because of her work, the army of the Bael Clan rose in quality and expended even their territory.

On the other side, Kuroka was a beautiful young woman with a voluptuous figure, long black hair with split bangs, and hazel-gold eyes with cat-like pupils. Her attire consists of a black kimono, a yellow obi, a set of golden beads, and an ornately detailed headband. The kimono features a red interior and it is open at her shoulders. She was very playful, easy-going, simple-minded, and enjoys teasing people. She is also rather vulgar, using her beauty and sensuousness as a weapon in her arsenal of teasing. Despite her mischevious nature, Kuroka is very kind and compassionate who cares about her loved ones as her sister. She enjoyed always teasing Zarathul and she never stopped saying how she wanted a litter of kittens. Devil kittens to be precise. At least, she gave a new feel to his peerage which only had Esdeath, who was overly strict and often even he feared her.

"Hello, Esdeath, Kuroka."

Greeted them Zarathul as he entered the room. As soon as he entered the room, Esdeath opened her eyes from mediation came to him, fiercely kissing him on his lips. Kuroka seeing this pouted in jealousy.

"You already had enough, you weird slut. Go away from my mate, now!"

Yelled Kuroka at Esdeath, to which she only looked at her with an innocent smile and winked at angry Kuroka. In terms of strength, Esdeath was above Kuroka in all aspects, be it in Magic or close combat. As Kuroka could be considered as 3rd-Tier Ultimate-Class, while Esdeath was same as Zarathul, 2nd-Tier Ultimate-Class.

"Lazy useless cat. At least I am more useful than you, who just spends all the time sleeping and doing nothing."

Commented Esdeath in an indifferent voice, as she knew that only thing Kuroka was doing was just lazying around or going to see her younger sister at the Gremory Clan, but that was all. Compared to that, Esdeath was general of armies of Bael Clan, a post gave her by First Great King himself, and she was constantly training soldiers or fighting wild beasts of the Underworld that took a liking to the abandoned territories of extinct Pillars. This gave Esdeath pride in helping her future husband. Also, the fact she was his official fianceé, as it was blessed with the blessing of Zekram Bael, current Lord Bael and also approved by Elder Council was a very huge advantage for her. Not talking about the fact, she was the first one whom Zarathul has confessed to.

"Esdeath, Kuroka please don't quarrel. We don't have time for this. I have talked with my father now and even uncle Rivezim stopped, saying that he prepared meeting with potential peerage member."

Both of them stopped quarreling, just occasionally throwing provocative glances at each other. Mention of gaining new peerage member piqued the interest of both women, hugging his arms.

"Who is it, Darling?"

Asked Esdeath in a seductive voice, to which Zarathul had a very hard time resisting.

"Crom Cruach, Evil Dragon is known as the Crescent Circle Dragon who is said to be strongest of Evil Dragons. I personally don't know what is uncle Rivezim scheming, but he contacted Crom Cruach and persuaded him to meet him, so I would have a chance to recruit him into my peerage. Apparently even Vali gets the same chance, with another Evil Dragon, but I don't know the name."

Answered Zarathul as both Esdeath and Kuroka almost lost their breaths. Both of them knew, who Crom Cruach was and how powerful he was. Esdeath showed a wide smile on her face, as she took pride in her future husband who wanted to have the strongest Evil Dragon as member of his peerage.

"Zar-chan, when we will make some little kitten, nya?"

Asked Kuroka in an adorable cat-like way as she looked at her mate. Sadly, Esdeath was sitting right beside them, and she had now very angry expression as she looked at Kuroka.

"Darling is my fianceé, so it is understandable that he would have children with me at first."

Said Esdeath and now they were at it again. Zarathul just rubbed his forehead in annoyance as he listened to their child-like quarrel over him, but alas he didn't care too much of it.

"Oh right, Esdeath how is progressing training of Bael Army?"

Asked Zarathul in curiosity as he didn't know much about the current progress of their clan's armies. When he recruited her, he discussed with his father and gave that Conjunction of Spheres is coming, Zekram made her General of Bael Armies.

"Good, all armies have been reformed and we have recruited new soldiers. Currently, I am focusing more on the Battle Formations and to cultivate all of them, to have the strength of the Mid-Class Devil at least. We have completely cleaned two smaller territories next to the Bael Territory, that belonged to the extinct Pillars, expanding the Bael Territory and also, many new soldiers gained experiences of Life and Death Battles, not like to stupid Rating Games."

Explained Esdeath about her achievement as Zarathul patted her head. He was very happy that Esdeath was doing good in the military, she had great talent in that field. She even managed to train good lieutenants to lead troops and recruited experienced warriors to act like drill sergeants.

Both of them didn't like Rating Games, as they were nothing more than games in their point of view. It lacked the feeling of Life and Death battle, as in the Rating Game its main reason was just to show off. For younger devils, it was probably the only way to experience combat, albeit simulated one to a big extent. Because of that, Zarathul never participated in Rating Game and he didn't even have that on his schedule in near future, but he often went with Esdeath when she was hunting for powerful wild beasts and when she was leading army.

"Also, the structure of the Army has been changed. For start, all commanders must be experienced on the field of commanding soldiers, so no spoiled brats that never fought in the war. Another thing, the commander must be at least 1st-Tier High-Class Devil in terms of strength, and one army must have at least on Ultimate-Class Devil present in case of emergency."

One of the reasons, why Devils lost many soldiers in the Great War was because they were led by incompetent commanders mainly. Pillar Heirs who didn't have any experience, education or knowledge about the leading troops. Now Esdeath re-structuralized whole army structure to be more efficient and stronger.

"I am proud of you, my darling."

Said Zarathul as he kissed her on her cheek, to which Esdeath blushed slightly. A rare sight, to see someone as Esdeath, fear general and cruel sadist, to blushing like an ordinary girl. As Zarathul looked at her current embarrassed state, he was immediately aroused. Suddenly he felt, that Kuroka was hugging him from behind while nibbling on his ear.

"Come on, nya."

Whispered seductive cat to his ear, as he pushed Esdeath on the couch they were sitting and starting to kissing her fiercely, and soon, even mischievous cat joined them and in a few minutes, only moans of pleasure and extasy were heard through the room.

* * *

Next day

Above the castle, where Zekram Bael and Zarathul Bael were living, the huge dragon was flying. A majestic jet black Western Dragon with a black and golden aura surrounding him. He looked strong just by the look and beside the black and golden aura surrounding him, there was an air of noble dragon and domination.

"So, where is the kid that the weirdo Rivezim mentioned?"

* * *

**Hi there, my name is Trafford. Here is my newest fan-fic, only one published on the Devil Emperor. **

**Release rate would be probably one chapter per week, with 5k words. The story would be most focusing on the world-building and strengthening the Devil species, later it would be about wars, conquering and kingdom-building after the Conjunction of Sphere begins.**

**Now here are a few issues:**

**1\. Peerage**

**Mostly undecided, three spots are decided. Please try to nominate some peerage candidates, the only criterium is that they must be strong.**

**King: Zarathul Bael**

**Queen: Esdeath**

**Bishop: Kuroka**

**Bishop: **

**Rook 2x: Crom Cruach**

**Knight: **

**Knight: **

**Pawn x8: **

**2\. Harem... currently only have Esdeath, Kuroka and in the future Rossweisse that I am sure. About the rest it is undecided, but he won't have a huge or big harem. Max five or six women.**


	2. Crom Cruach, Preparations for Campaign

**Chapter 2: Crom Cruach and Preparations for Campaign**

* * *

Mornings were always the same. From the time, Zarathul finished assimilating Anti-Magic and Power of Destruction in his body and being together with Esdeath and Kuroka was always the same thing. He laid in his huge bad with Kuroka and Esdeath both of them being naked as they hugged his arms and using them as a pillow. Not that Zarathul was complaining about it.

"Esdeath, Kuroka wake up."

Said Zarathul as he tried to wake both of them up. Esdeath woke up pretty easily as she was used to getting up early as a soldier, but Kuroka was a different story. She liked sleep long and hated morning, probably like any other cat.

"Sleep, nya, nya, more sleep, nya."

Murmured Kuroka in her sleep as she ignored Zarathul's futile attempts to wake her up. Thus, both of them just woke up and left Kuroka sleeping there. Together with Esdeath, they left the bedroom and went to have breakfast.

Zekram was already waiting there, as servants were bringing various kinds of food for them.

"Father-in-law, good morning."

Greeted Esdeath with a smile to which Zekram nodded his head. All three of them sat down for breakfast and started eating. On the table, were various kinds of food, all of them made by best chefs available through the Underworld.

"So, daughter-in-law I heard many good things about you lately as you managed to reclaim territories and expand Bael Territory significantly. Also, how is the training of Bael Army progressing?"

Hearing these compliments, Esdeath's cheeks reddened when she heard the name, daughter-in-law and then she straightened herself to answer the question about the military. Despite being rather young, she was very dutiful when it came to military affairs.

"Very good. I have intensified training several times, focusing both on magical abilities and also physical body. We devils have a great advantage in the physical body over many races, but the only thing we are training is our magic and nothing else. Now the level of an ordinary soldier, in general, is around 2-Tier Middle-Class, while the strength of Elites of the army, especially those from Bael Clan or those from Lesser Housecarls, is around 3rd-Tier High-Class to 1st-Tier High-Class. I have also, started recruiting from Low-Class Devils with enough potential across the whole Bael Territory, and many of them are already showing very good results."

Said Esdeath with a hint of pride hidden in her words. When she took the post of General of Bael Armies, they started blooming and becoming stronger month by month.

"Very good daughter-in-law. In truth, I have a mission for you, both of you to be precise. Take soldiers and go clear the territory of already extinct Valefor Clan. I got information that their territory is nowadays full of Stray Fallen Angels and Stray Devils, so this could be a good exercise for you and for Army as we need to prepare for upcoming fights. And also, take Sairaorg with you. Lately, many people are talking about him excelling in the Rating Games, even though it is nothing just funny game, he has good power. This would be a good opportunity to temper himself with fire and blood."

Said Zekram as he looked at Zarathul and Esdeath. Both of them were happy that they got the mission and that it was cleaning of the territory of already extinct Valefor Clan was just bonus. Valefor Clan territory was not far from the Bael Territory, now that the Bael territory has expanded.

"Father, how many of strays are there?"

"We don't know exact numbers, but Valefor territory has been a safe house for various strays for a very long time. Before, we couldn't send their troops to clear it and reclaim it as it is separated from closest devil territory, Bael territory, those two territories that Esdeath conquered. Thanks to that, there is a big number, approximately around 25,000 Strays across the several factions. To be precise, there are several thousand stray devils, more than 7,000 fallen angels, then apparently some stray grim reapers and creatures from various mythologies. Then there are various monsters like goblins and kobolds, numbering around 10,000. Fortunately for us, they are not centered and only have various villages and smaller cities."

Former Valefor territory was always base for strays that managed to escape from devil territories or rogue fallen angels. Over the years, even more, and more species that left their home territories came there, and they were a headache for devils for a long time.

Both Zarathul and Esdeath nodded their heads in agreement as this would be a very important mission for them. If they managed to conquer former Valefor territory, not only they would be able to expand devil territory, but also annihilate a huge number of devils strays and rogue fallen angels. This would lessen problems that they might face in the future and also, could weaken fallen angels and lessen their numbers. Even though they went rogue, they were fallen angels nevertheless and could still perhaps once return to Grigori under special circumstances.

It was a time of war, and that meant, many of Low-Class Devils and Middle-Class Devil and Reincarnated Devils would be able to improve their status if they performed well in the upcoming war. Zarathul also knew reasons why his father wanted for him to take Sairaorg with him, as this would be a perfect opportunity in fighting in a real Life and Death battles.

"Oh, here is here already."

Said Zekram after he felt that something crossed through the barrier that was enveloping the whole Bael Castle. He showed a faint smile over his face and then looked at his son, with bit worry in his eyes.

"Crom Cruach is here. We should be coming to see him."

Said Zekram as all three of them stood up and went to the courtyard, above which someone was already waiting for them.

* * *

Crom Cruach really looked intimidating in his dragon form. Too dominating and that aura he was radiating, was forcing everyone who was weak on his knees. Fortunately, all devils in this castle were at least, 3rd-Tier High-Class so they were able to resist that leftover aura for a bit, before Zekram together with Zarathul and Esdeath arrived. Only then Crom Cruach stopped releasing that intimidating dragon aura and started shapeshifting.

In his human form, Crom Cruach has the appearance of a tall handsome man wearing a black coat with a long mixture of black and blond hairs as well as heterochromatic eyes where his right eye is gold and his left eye is black and he has pointed ears.

"You have come earlier than expected."

Said Zekram to Crom Cruach who had an indifferent expression on his face as he looked at Zarathul who was standing beside his father and looked back at Crom Cruach.

"Come, kid, we are going to fight. If you are really that good as that weirdo Rizevim said, then I will join your peerage."

Said Crom Cruach as he looked at Zarathul with a calm yet amused expression. One must know that Zarathul was only at the Ultimate-Class, while Crom Cruach could be almost considered as Heavenly Dragon-Class. He was currently, Dragon King-Class of Pinnacle, only one little push in his magical abilities and body strength would make him another Heavenly Dragon, and with enough time his strength would be comparable if not higher than that of Ddraig or Albion.

"It would be my honor, Mr. Crom Cruach."

Said Zarathul as he took out the Gáe Bolg from the dimensional storage and stood in a battle stance as he held the crimson red spear in both of his hands. Crom Cruach's eye twitched a bit when he saw that spear, but he still stood there, like nothing happened at all and just watched little devil kid with great interest.

In a meanwhile, both Zekram and Esdeath already retreated and created many barriers and bounded field around the place where they were fighting because they couldn't fight in the castle, they teleported to the plain, several tens of kilometers away from the castle.

Suddenly, Zarathul disappeared from the place where he was standing and when he appeared he was already before indifferent Crom Cruach slashing at his with his Gáe Bolg, trying to pierce his heart. Zarathul knew that the disparity between them was too huge and he could not hold back even bit of his strength, so he started fighting at full power from the start. As the Gáe Bolg was nearing Crom Cruach, he just dodged like nothing happened and looked at Zarathul with a smile on his face.

'Hmm... that kid is good, that attack would be able to instantly kill anything below Ultimate-Class in one hit. And he still didn't use his Power of Destruction, only that special ability of Gáe Bolg, sadly for someone who knows about it, its useless.'

Said Crom Cruach to himself as he looked at Zarathul, who was already enveloped in the aura of Power of Destruction. Now the real fun would start, and Crom Cruach showed wide grin, seeing tens of portals appearing, created from Power of Destruction as weapons from Power of Destruction that were in aiming at him.

"This is going to be fun!"

Yelled Crom Cruach as he heard another voice.

"Gate of Babylon!"

And tens of weapons of various forms, conjured from pure Power of Destruction shot at him with lightning speed to which Crom Cruach was forced to invoke several magic shields to protect himself. Even though he was far stronger than Zarathul, if he was hit with those weapons at once, even he would be injured. Power of Destruction was deserved to be considered as strongest devil bloodline power.

As he was resisting the countless weapons created from Power of Destruction, Zarathul was preparing next move. In truth, with his power as Dragon King, almost nearing Heavenly Dragon, he could end the match even now, but he wanted to see the extent of Zarathul's power, how far it can go.

Zarathul stretched his hand in the air, pointing at Crom Cruach with his right hand, as several smaller gray magical circles were circulating around his right arm. That was the moment when Crom Cruach sensed that something was wrong, but it was late.

"Gram Demolition!"

Yelled Zarathul, as magic energy from his hand hit the magic shields protecting Crom Cruach and in a split of a second, they exploded like fireworks, creating a huge shockwave, and even sending Zarathul flying several tens of meters back. When the dust settled, one could see there Crom Cruach unharmed standing there, but his right hand was bleeding as it was hit by one weapon conjured from Power of Destruction.

Zarathul was barely standing as he was using his spear Gáe Bolg to help him stand. Then Crom Cruach came here and helped him to stand as the shockwave from the explosion was too much for Ultimate-Class to handle. Even though Zarathul was 2nd-Tier Ultimate-Class, those magic shields that Crom Cruach created were filled with his magical energy and dragon energy of Pinnacle Dragon King powerhouse. If Zarathul had been weaker, such an explosion could have killed him like an ant.

"It was good fight kiddo. Even though short, you have managed to make me bleed and your potential is good. I have never thought to see once again the Anti-Magic ability of Lucifer Family. Come I will help you to walk to infantry."

Said Crom Cruach as he helped Zarathul walking and together they went tot he place where Zekram and Esdeath were waiting from them. When they arrived there, Zekram sighed in relief that his son was mostly fine, only some injuries but that was nothing, cause it would be healed quickly thanks to his strong body and regeneration. Esdeath quickly rushed to him, with small tears forming in the ends of her eyes, when she saw her beloved in such sorry state. Still, she knew that it was a miracle that he survived. Crom Cruach must have held back too much, because if not Zarathul might not be able to walk alive from the spar.

"So what you say, Mr. Dragon about the proposition?"

Asked Zarathul with a faint smile as he looked at Crom Cruach.

"You know I won't become devil, the ritual would be performed by a special method, so I would remain pure Dragon. And till the day you are stronger than me, you cannon order me as you like. Till that day, it would depend on my mood."

Zarathul nodded his head in agreement as they were pretty good condition. Powerhouses such as Crom Cruach were impossible to recruit into peerage as they were too powerful, and even when they were recruited they won't be reincarnated as devils, but rather a special method would be used to make them members of peerage without reincarnating them as devils. If it was someone with Longinus such as Divine Dividing or Boosted Gear, that were made of Souls of Heavenly Dragons it would be able such person to reincarnate, because he was the bearer of the only soul of a powerhouse, not the body.

After they returned to the castle, Crom Cruach became 'member' of Zarathul's peerage and then he disappeared again to god knows where. He said that he had some things to take care of, so he went away, but he told him he would return for the military expedition to the Valefor territory.

* * *

One week later, Zarathul was still laying in his bed, as he already finished recuperating from his injuries as Esdeath or Kuroka were taking care of him. Now that the military expedition was announced and they would depart tomorrow. They would be going through the Bael Castle to reconnect with another half of army and to pick up another one that would be joining the expedition, his own family Sairaorg Bael.

"How are the preparations going Esdeath? Are our armies prepared for the expedition?"

Asked Zarathul as he saw Esdeath entering his room with some papers in her hands. Probably the preparation for the expedition is done and she came here to tell him the results.

"All together we have prepared around 20,000 soldiers, who were trained by me personally. My personal army numbering 5,000 would be leading the fight. Other 15,000 soldiers came from other Bael armies, that undergo changes not long ago, so their combat prowess is not that high. In-state of soldiers, my elites are mainly 3rd-Tier High-Class in terms of strength, while the rest of soldiers is around 3rd-Tier Middle-Class to 1st-Tier Middle-Class. From all Devils with the strength of High-Class, only several hundred have the strength of 2nd-Tier and 1st-Tier and three of all Devils have 3rd-Tier Ultimate-Class power."

These levels of power weren't bad, but they were far from the standard that Devils should have. In times of original Lucifer, every devil had a strength of High-Class. They had fallen too much, but fortunately, there was still time to change it.

"For now it would be enough, I only hope there won't be any Cadre-Class Fallen Angels because their number there is too high, there is something fishy going on, but so be it. Combined with my Power of Destruction, Anti-Magic and Light Resistance, coupled with Gáe Bolg I should be able to fight evenly 3rd-Tier Satan-Class, which is comparable to the 3rd-Tier Cadre-Class Fallen Angels. Only if they don't too strong light, then I would be doomed."

Zarathul's innate ability from his mother's side was Light Resistance, but sadly only to some extent. Meaning he was able to ignore all light that was weaker than him by some amount. For example, as Ultimate-Class he was able to totally ignore Light of Low-Class Angels and Middle-Class Angels and defend against Light of High-Class Angels to a good extent.

"Darling, Kuroka said she would be also participating int he expedition? Why does that lazy cat want to come with us? She will be taking you from me!"

Said Esdeath with the mild blush on her cheeks and she cutely complained about her fellow peerage member. She and Kuroka didn't get along well, because of their different personalities as Kuroka was a typical cat, lazy and wanted sleep or mate. Ont the other hand, Esdeath was always doing something like training army and leading soldiers.

"You don't know? Zekram Bael and Elder Council made deal with Nekoshou and Nekomatas that were living in the Underworld. They were practically kicked out of the Youkai territory to the Underworld and after that fiasco with her former master, many things changed in reincarnating devils and all. Great King Faction made a proposition to Nekomatas living in the Underworld to become part of the Devils. They would obtain some chairs in Elder Council and would be treated as Devils. In exchange, they would teach devils senjutsu and Touki, at least to those who had the talent it in. This would strengthen our race, as we would obtain more powerful people as Nekomatas and especially Nekoshous are pretty strong and have good potential. Even now they have several Ultimate-Class Nekomatas and Nekoshou, sadly they are lacking someone in the Satan-Class. Now that Kuroka is part of my peerage, all nekomatas and nekoshou would become part of Bael Clan people. Also, they have huge usage in the military as they would do for perfect scounts and assassins."

Explained Zarathul about reasons why even usually lazy cat, was now seriously participating in something, compared to her daily schedule which was sleep, watching tv and mate with Zarathul in order to produce super-strong devil kittens.

"I would never anticipate that those arrogant devils would accept someone as their equal. Hmm, times are really changing. The Conjunction of Spheres must have frightened them to points many of them voluntarily embraced changed made in Underworld... truly fascinating."

Exclaimed Esdeath as she looked surprised hearing Zarathul's words.

"We don't have a choice and even those old grumpy men in Elder Council are seeing this after my father made it clear. Our race is on its way to the Abyss. Straight away to the extinction. First was the Great War, which took too many of us, and then that Civil War. We are vulnerable and with the creation of Evil Pieces we have made too many enemies in other Pantheons, so we have only two choices. First one is to stick with our old ways and perish. The second one is to accept the new age and become stronger. That is the reasons why those Reincarnation Laws were accepted and why many changes were done. Even here in the Underworld, Devil Race is now a juicy piece of meat in front of many enemies. Fallen Angels, Hades and Grim Reapers who can't wait to start annihilation war against us, Osiris from Egyptian Pantheon, and various others such as Oni Tribes in the east and countless monster races all around the Underworld."

Esdeath's perked up when she heard how many enemies there were. Especially when she heard mentioning of the Oni Tribes as they were a pure-warrior race.

"I have heard of Oni Tribes. They are similar to Devils, just instead of wings they have horns on their forehead and they are all very talented in close combat and have terrifyingly strong physical bodies. They are also a warrior race with Satan-Class leader."

What Esdeath said was the truth, Oni Tribes were very strong ones. Like Devils who excelled in magic, Oni excelled in body strength and all of them were extremely strong close combatants. In reality, Oni Tribes weren't enemies with Devil Race, instead, they were allies for long ago. Nowadays they were negotiations going on, to fuse Oni Tribes with Devils as practically all of them were very similar. Also, they would balance out the Devils who were mainly focusing on magic.

"You know, my father is negotiating with their leader Yamamoto Zenko about them joining the Devil Sphere of influence. Soon, enough when our territory would be expanded enough, we would create a centralized state, because our current model of government when everybody is doing practically what he wants is very ineffective and bad for the future development. When the Conjunction of Spheres begins, we need to be united enough to fight against all enemies, not just those from another side of Dimensional Path. Restoring the glory of from times of original Four Great Satans is the goal we are trying to achieve."

Esdeath nodded her head in agreement as she knew to mean behind those words. For Oni Tribes to join Devils in creating future centralized state was a good opportunity as they would practically obtain a good position from the start and also, Devils had several Super Devils, top powerhouses in the world, while Oni Tribes only had one Satan-Class and some twenty or so, Ultimate-Classes. Similar thing with Nekomatas, they were even weaker than Oni Tribes, but joining now would be better for their future position in the future devil nation. It was also a thing of view. Albeit devils were arrogant creatures, they would be able to learn how to see Nekomatas/Nekoshou and Oni as one of them if they joined now and would focus their arrogance to outsiders of the nation. Another thing was that devils innately respected strong ones, and Oni Tribe was very strong as they were better in terms of quality of warriors, compared to Devil Race, despite their smaller population and lack of powerhouses. Nekomatas and Nekoshou were same, they lacked powerhouses and their population was small, but they were individually strong, even weakest was comparable to Middle-Class Devil in terms of strength.

"Conjunction of Spheres would be great trial not for just us, but for all factions. What will happen, would be the apocalypse for humans, as they would be hit hardest and there is even high probability that they would be pushed on brink of extinction as they are weakest of all races through the Earth. During the Conjuntion of Spheres, even strong Pantheons could perish, if the enemy is too strong."

Exclaimed Zarathul. The Conjunction of Spheres would hit even Earth, not just Underworld or Dimensional Worlds of various Pantheons such as Asgard or Takamagahara. It was called Age of Gods, precisely for that reason, when the dimensional paths connected the Gods would descend once more and walk through mortals once again.

"So I suppose when it will hit humans, Gods would descend to Earth to obtain more worshippers and protect humans. They would obtain more Faith Power, which would strengthen them significantly and make their Pantheons stronger. And we Devils would obtain many talented people to be reincarnated as devils and a large number negative energy to be refined as special resources to increase Demonic Powers of devils."

To devils, it didn't really matter if humans perished or not. Even though they were species with potential, they were too weak and were a non-magical race. The only thing they are good for is that they are able to generate a huge amount of Negative Energy created from negative feelings, which is used to refine as special crystal, that is able to increase Demonic Energy of Devil. That was mainly used by High-Class Devils to increase Demonic Powers of newly reincarnated devils.

Every living and sentient being, not mattering if intelligent or not, was able to generate negative energy through feelings of despair, hatred, fear and so on and largest amount of it was generated through death. This Negative Energy could be harvested by devils and through specialized method crystallized and then absorbed to increase Demonic Powers. These things were introduced shortly after implementation of Reincarnation Laws that improved the standing of Reincarnated Devil by a good deal.

All these things we're able to increase Demonic Powers of Reincarnated Devil to the standard of Middle-Class Pure-Blooded Devil, thus many of Reincarnated Devils were able to become 'true devils' in every sense. Negative Energy Crystals were also very popular among the Pillar Devils, as they were quickly able to increase the strength of their servants if the servant was formerly human or had a low amount of Demonic Powers.

"If I have a big amount of Negative Energy Crystals at my disposition I would be able to increase the strength of my army by a good deal."

Commented Esdeath as she looked as Zarathul with her special looked named: "Darling I want it!". Zarathul only smiled seeing this and made mental note to go to Ajuka and ask him for some Negative Energy Crystals, he would be able to get a good reward from Esdeath... cough... night...

"Come Esdeath, we should be going now. We need to reach the Bael Castle as soon as possible to reconnect with the rest of our soldiers and Kuroka who is already there preparing her Nekoshou and Nakomatas."

* * *

"Lord Zarathul, General Esdeath. Welcome to Bael Castle. All soldiers are already waiting for your command. Armies are prepared for march and supplies to have been loaded, even those 'gifts' from Technology Depratnemnt arrived and are prepared for a fight."

A middle-aged man greeted both of them, sharing some similarities with his father Zekram. He looked at his fifties, bit older than Zekram, despise being far younger and had sharp gaze in his eyes. Despite being current Great King of Bael, in terms of status, he was equal to Zarathul who was the son of the First Great King. In terms of strength, he was even weaker than Zarathul, around the level of 3rd-Tier Ultimate-Class.

"Greeting Lord Bael. Thank you for helping Kuroka and her people accommodate themselves before the war. Has Sairaorg arrived already? We need to leave as quickly as possible, the schedule is tight."

When Lord Bael heard him mentioning the name of his son, his face changed a bit as his relationship with his son was far from good. When his son was born without Power of Destruction he completely despised his elder son as a defect, scorning him as the shame of the Bael clan. Lord Bael was a person, who hardly was able to take on the changes that were going in the Underworld and when he saw that his son was able to become the strongest devil of the younger generation even without the Power of Destruction was shocking for him.

When Zarathul fist met Lord Bael, he actually fought against him. The reason was simple, he wanted to prove him that the Power of Destruction was not omnipotent, his father Zekram Bael said it himself too. He was able to defeat him with his Gáe Bolg and magic combined. Maybe this changed something inside of him, the question was if it wasn't already too late.

After exchanging greetings, Zarathul together with Esdeath went to the garden, where they sat down and were drinking green tea, that servants brewed for them. This tea was special and rarf exclusivity that only Zekram Bael uses to drink.

After a short time of waiting, a person who was Zarathul awaiting finally came. Sairaorg is a handsome young man with black hair and violet eyes. He is very tall and has a muscular build due to the extreme training he has done. His height is 194cm, thus being taller than Zarathul. Together with him, came his Queen too, Kuisha Abaddon. Kuisha was a very beautiful girl with blonde hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes.

"Come, come here and sit down."

As he gestured both of them sat down. Kuisha met Zarathul for the first time, now and she was pretty nervous because she knew who he was and whop he represented. On the other hand, Sairaorg met Zarathul pretty often as he could be counted as Zarathul's only friend, besides Vali. His father called all of them, Battle-Maniac Trio.

"Sairaorg, you probably already knew my Queen and fianceé Esdeath. And this must be your Queen Lady Kuisha of House Abaddon, it's my pleasure, my Lady."

Said Zarathul as he bowed in a gentlemanly bow. After greetings, all of them sat down so Zarathul could explain things about what brings him here.

"Zarathul why you came here? If I remember correctly, you would never come here, only once a month when we are having sparring season, but today is different, what happened?"

Asked Sairaorg with curiosity as Zarathul practically was never leaving the castle where first Bael was living, only on a special occasion, and Sairaorg new Zarathul good enough to see that this was a very special occasion.

"Yes, as you may have noticed that the Bael Clan armies would be soon marching to the Valefor territory to clean it out from stray devil, rogue Fallen Angels, and other unwanted guests and reclaim the territory for devil race. My father, First Great King told me to take you to war, so you could experience how the real fight on the verge of Life and Death is, not those simulated stupid chesspieces."

Both Sairaorg and Kuisha were taken aback by a sudden revelation. Especially Sairaorg as he knew what this represented. War was the best opportunity to make merits and also, experience real fights instead of simulated Rating Games.

"I see you are pretty surprised. Pack up quickly, we would be leaving today, we need to reach the Valefor territory by next three days, so take you peerage and Esdeath would give you orders. Let me give you a piece of small advice. This is going to be a real battle, with thousands of fallen angels on the enemy side, so be extremely careful, because death is everywhere on the battlefield. This is not some Rating Game, where you would be protected against deathly attacks, and always aim to kill."

Said Zarathul to both of them. None of the younger devils experiencer real battles that were not Rating Games. Only a small minority of them, who were from affiliated houses to Bael Clan and joined the military was giving this opportunity to see how real battle looked like.

Esdeath just looked at them a bit, before thinking about where she should send them.

"Take your peerage and report yourself to Commander Veran, he is Ultimate-Class Devil in charge of Vanguard. You would get basic equipment to defend against light attacks of fallen angels, but beware of the fact, that equipment is not that strong as it is just prototype newly created by the Research Department."

Said Esdeath causally as she returned her attention to hugging one of Zarathul's arms. After that, Sairaorg left together with his Queen and went to gather their peerage.

* * *

After Sairaorg and Kuisha left to gather rest of the peerage, Kuisha couldn't help to wonder her master's anticipation of war.

"Master Sairaorg is a really good idea to participate in war? Lord Zarathul said there would be thousands of rogue fallen angels and stray devils, besides other monsters and creatures."

Asked Kuisha nervously as she looked at her King, following behind him.

"Do you know that fighting in the war, is the fastest method for the devil to accumulate merits and prove his strength? One of the reasons, why those who only fought in Rating Games and even though they became High-Class devils in terms of status won't be respected in precisely this. Those who achieved nobility through war merits and Rating Game are different dimensions entirely. If we are able to perform good and accumulate merits, you could practically ask for anything from Devil Council or even change many things."

Answered Sairaorg to her question. His dream to create an Underworld where any Devils regardless of their background can make their dream come true was something that could be achieved very hard, but he didn't give up and wanted to realize it.

"Especially now, as this is practically mission issued by First Great King. He is a person who is in the practical ruler of the Underworld. My dreams can be realized only if I have the support of those old men and now many of Low-Class devils would have a chance to improve their standing in society and also, to prove themselves. Underworld is slowly changing and Zarathul knows the reasons why, though I personally don't have a clue. Think about it, for the last two centuries, things like Reincarnation Laws were implemented and many changes were made in our society, rather contradictory to ways of old devils. Maybe I would be obtained reason, why are all those old devils like on needles for a long time already."

Kuisha nodded her head as she looked at Sairaorg who kept walking forward.

"Kuisha tells everyone to be extremely careful, this is going to be a real battlefield with countless fallen angels fighting and light weapons, very dangerous for every devil around. This is not the Rating Game, where you are protected from death. Also, we are going to the regions that are far from devil main territory, so it is highly possible that we would encounter even soldiers of the Old Satan Faction. I heard rumors that those territories far from the main territory of devil race are just swarming with members of Old Satan Faction."

Said Sairaorg as Kuisha held her breath. Old Satan Faction was known as a notorious terrorist through whole Underworld.

* * *

**Thank you for reading my novel here on **

Current Peerage state:

King: Zarathul Bael

Queen: Esdeath

Bishop: Kuroka

Bishop: _Best Milf Enchanter_

Rook 2x: Crom Cruach

Knight: _Alchemist of Ultimate Eye_

Knight: _Demon Swords_

Pawn x8: _Suprise!_

**Harem: Esdeath, Kuroka, Grayfia, Rossweisse, Serafall (these are set, maybe one or two more in the future)**


	3. Valefor Territory War - Part 1

**So here are answers to comments, before we begin the chapter:**

**Sunfang193: Yup, you managed to guess it correctly, only Siegfried was changed to someone else, introduced in this chapter. I found another person, stronger and with very interesting abilities. Also, one of my favorite character from anime he appeared.**

**Beirut: Nople, she didn't even participate in the Civil War. **

**The Last Kenpachi: Siegried was in my plans to be his Knight originally. I have changed it to someone else. Also, Xenovia won't be in Harem as there are already eight women in it, which is more than enough for me to write. To having a Holy Sword wielder in the peerage, probably not.**

**Guest: About Issei, perverted or non-perverted I still hate that character. Especially after he defeated Sairaorg in the rating game he became my most hated fictional character across all anime, manga, xianxia, xuanhuan, Korean web novels, and all creation. Still, he will be in the story and will have Boosted Gear, but I will make it real. **

**What I especially hate about him, is that he became so op with plot armor alone. Basically Boosted Gear alas Plot Armor made him too OP out of thin air, which is totally unrealistic. The basic property of the Boosted Gear is boosting power individual already have. Doubling it every ten seconds to the level of Ddraig himself or slightly lower as whole power could be unleashed under Juggernaut Drive. **

**My point is that perverted idiot, even after reincarnating as the devil had almost zero amount of demonic energy and couldn't even awaken his Sacred Gear. In this fic, he would be many times weaker as there won't be any plot armor hanging over his head. I will still make him join Rias's peerage he would be exactly like in cannon, alas many times weaker as his character in anime/light novel was too strong for almost non-existed talent and no training as he was just focused on boobs...**

**I am a person who heavily dwells on logic, so for me giving power out of thin air like this is totally unacceptable. **

**Dominus1389: I will think about it, and if I find a perfectly logical way to put it there, I will probably use it. At least Alter Arturia or maybe even normal Arturia... **

**\- About Peerage, only one change was made and it was the final one. Rest remains as I have told. **

**\- Zarathul's Pawn... I don't wanna spoil you, but I can assure you, that it is someone very strong and interesting.**

**\- Harem, already finalized and set in stone. ****Esdeath, Kuroka, Grayfia, Rossweisse, Serafall, Irene, Yasaka, ?. There will be no more people as having too big harem is not good for developing relationships between characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Valefor Territory War - Part 1**

The Old Satan Faction was indirectly formed when a group of Devils decided to continue the Great War in order to fulfill the Original Satans's ambition of world domination, while another group of Devils was against it, resulting in a Civil War among Devils, with the victor being the new Government of the Devil side of the Underworld, while the losers where forced to go into hiding and the original Four Great Satans became known as the Old Satans.

Even after being defeated by the new Devil government, the Old Satan Faction remained active and continued to cause trouble on the Devil side. Nothing serious, just harassment on the borders or some occasional terrorist attacks.

The Old Satan Faction was the only group of Devils who resisted using the Evil Pieces, as they believe them to be a disgrace to Devils because they reincarnate Humans and other races into Devils. They were also against the Devils' current political system of peace and pacifism and sought to change it by overthrowing the current Satans as their ultimate goal was to destroy the current world by creating and spreading chaos and recreating it into a world under the dictatorial rule of the descendants of the original Satans.

* * *

Bael Castle, garden

"Darling do you think that we would be a clash with Old Satan Faction? I mean didn't they have territories deeper in the Underworld?"

Asked Esdeath out of curiosity as she looked at Zarathul, who was sitting there and sipping his green tea. In truth, Zarathul didn't care too much about Old Satan Faction as he knew about their exact strength and that they were weak as an ant. During the Civil War, Old Satan Faction only had one Super-Devil and that was his uncle Rizevim, who didn't fight for some reason. While the rest of the descendants of original Satans are mainly on the Ultimate-Class, so for leaders of the faction, they are pitifully weak.

"Not that I care. Their leadership is weak and they are following those descendants only because of pride and sticking to old traditions. If we encountered members of Old Satan Faction, try to not kill them, but instead capture them. All of them are Pure-Blooded devils nevertheless. When their leaders are killed, they would surrender on their own, without anyone on the Satan-Class level at least, they are doomed and even now, if Sirzechs Lucifer, Ajuka Beelzebub or father took action they would be annihilated without any resistance."

Commented Zarathul about Old Satan Faction and their abilities. Their overall abilities were really pathetic despite being direct descendants of the Four Original Satans. Their Clan traits were extremely powerful, yet they were too weak. Their only luck was that they had a rather big number of people.

"Those descendants albeit being weak, are very cunning and sly. They knew that we won't annihilate them as they have a huge number of Pure-Blooded Devils on their side, but they are aware that they are weak in front of Satan-Class Devils and Super-Devil Powerhouses, so they are just hiding like rats in severs."

Said Zarathul coldly as he looked Esdeath, who was currently hugging his arm. When they were alone, Esdeaht was really clingy and liked to cuddle with him, it made her comfortable. Zarathul also liked Esdeath being clingy, as it filled his heart with a very warm feeling of love.

"Darling, we should be going. There is war waiting for us and I am also curious to see those new gifts from Ajuka-sama in their full wonder and power."

Said Esdeath as they both stood up and went to the place, where the army was gathering. One could see thousands and thousands of devils, all clothed in finest armors made by their best blacksmith and enchanted with the best magic as they were standing in formations, awaiting the arrival of their general.

"Welcome General Esdeath, welcome Lord-General Zarathul."

Shouted thousands voiced at the same time, when they entered the encampment of the Bael Clan devil legions. While Esdeath was General of the Bael Clan legions, Zarathul was Lord-General of whole army belonging to the Bael Clan and all it's Vassals, at least to the time when Esdeath would be ready to take over. His father gave this position to him, to gain experiences in leading soldiers on the field, and with the help of his beloved fianceé, he was able to learn quickly. Zarathul and Esdeath both wawed as a form of greeting and then another devil came to them, it was man, in his middle ages, with a sharp look of solider and leader.

"Commander Veran, good to see you again. With greetings and formalities finished, please lead to to the place where are those things from Ajuka."

Said Zarathul impatiently as he wanted to see what had Ajuka sent him. He was the genius inventor of the whole Devil Race, and now after soon-coming Conjunction of Spheres, he was focusing on researching things for military usage. They were some already completed things and now he got his hands of the whole bunch of completed products with one proto-type in the final phase of testing.

"Yes, yes."

Said Veran, as they went to the place. Veran was Pure-Blood Devil of House Bael, from one of its branches. He was a war veteran who survived through the Great War between Three Factions and also Civil War between Old Satan Faction and Anti-Satan Faction. In terms of strength, he was 2nd-Tier Ultimate-Class Devil.

What was waiting for them was huge Magical Battleship. It consists of a central hull at whose sides are located two larger, elongated part jutting frontwards. It seems to be kept flying by several large magical glyphs floating near it, with a pair of them being located behind it, at the ends of the protruding sections, something which makes them highly reminiscent of propulsors, and an even more massive one sitting under it. The hull's shape is that of a real boat, possessing an arched, pointed lower part, ending on the front in a dark section which houses the guild's symbol, with an open zone right above it, where the main hall seems to be located. Such hall is topped by a dark, arched roof reminiscent of a capsized hull, on whose back part sits yet again another, similarly-shaped tower, sprouting from the main hull and going up several meters, which ends in a massive observation deck protruding frontwards, complete with large windows. At the tower's sides, on the dark roof, is a pair of large, sword-shaped ornaments jutting upwards; a similar pair of crossed swords is also present on the airship's protruding sections, with one of them adorning each outer side. The two attached sections of the ship possess frontal, protruding dark parts reminiscent of rostrums, each adorned by a light motif, somewhat similar to a stylized monstrous head. Both the hull and the two adjacent sections bear linear blank parts, where a multitude of square windows is lined up one after the other, these being highly reminiscent of hatches.

"Fascinating, truly fascinating. Ajuka is truly genius to construct something like this!"

Exclaimed Zarathul after initial shock faded away from him. Magical Battleship, they finally finished it, the weapon of mass destruction and practically flying fortress. Now the peace was going on, and what was peace one could ask? The answer is simple, peace is a time when we are preparing for another war. Because of that, the technology department was now focusing on researching weapons and thing like this Magical Warship.

"What is the name of this wonderful creation? And how is it's power, I can see that huge cannon even from here, it's a strength should be around Ultimate-Class if I am not wrong?"

Asked Zarathul after quickly scanning the Magical Battleship. Strength of the main cannon was always highest, and if the strength of the main cannon was around Ultimate-Class then the strength of side cannon should be around High-Class, which is pretty good, for something that was just now researched and created.

"Name is Grimoire Heart Battleship. The main cannon is the Jupiter-Class with power equivalent to the Ultimate-Class, while the power of side cannon varies. Bigger ones have power equivalent to the High-Class while those smaller ones to the Middle-Class. The whole Battleship is protected by Magical Defense Barrier, self-repairing which should be able to withstand the power of Satan-Class Powerhouse for a significant amount of time."

Zarathul nodded his head in excitement and his eyes were shining like little kid who got a new toy to play with.

"What about the rest?"

Asked Zarathul about next thing that he got from the Technological Department. First thing was the Magical Battleship which was a big project and second thing, was apparently something smaller, yet destructive.

"Yes, they are Mana Battery Cannons, they are the whole bunch of fifty of them, each of power same as 1st-Tier High-Class devil. The only problem is with ammunitions and the same problem is with that Battleship as it uses Mana Crystals that are too scarce through the world, so we are on the tight spot. Maybe if the Conjunction of Spheres happens, we would be able to obtain some source of the Mana Crystals."

Mana Battery Cannon looked like more futuristic human cannon with beautiful futuristic design. It had various magical runes through the entire place. In regard to the Mana Crystal was a huge amount of mana that crystalized and took the form of crystal. It was often used as an energy source to various things or used by magicians as a method to increase magical capacity or in crafting things. Unfortunately, they were pretty rare and most of the natural sources were located in Dimensional Words of various Pantheons. Even though the Underworld was several times bigger than Earth, it only had five of places where Mana Crystals were and most of them were very deep in the Underworld or controlled by other stronger forces than devils. One of them was close to devil race but was controlled by Hades, thus belonging to the Olympus.

"Very good. Very good, prepare all things, we are leaving in one hour for the Valefor territory to start extermination war against our enemies."

Suddenly as Zarathul was talking to Veran, he felt something vibrating in his jacket. When he looked what it was it was a magical flyer, that he gave to a certain person to call him when he would be in need.

"What happened Darling, that you are so happy?"

Asked Easdeath out of curiosity as she looked at Zarathul being now very happy and even showing it on the outside, compared to his usual stoic expression, something very good must have happened.

"Yes, something very good had happened. My peerage is going to be expanded once more. That stubborn old man finally used the flyer I gave him, that means, he must be in problems so serious he decided to accept my proposition."

Said Zarathul as a magic circle appeared beneath him. It was not a magic circle of Bael Clan that appeared and teleported him away, instead it was a magical circle in dual colors, silver and black, with Geass-Sword sigil in the center of the magical circle. This was of more importance than checking the equipment, and checking the equipment could b also done by Esdeath. He needed to go to find his new future servant.

* * *

After he teleported away, he appeared in the Human World, on Earth in some god -a knows-forgotten country in the middle of nothing. As Zarathul looked around, he found bloodstains from someone blood, thus he decided to follow them until he found the entrance to some cave. Zarathul took out Gáe Bolg, in order to be prepared if the situation turned out to combat and entered the cave.

It didn't take a long time to find his target. He was a tall, standing at approximately 6'3", thin man wearing black dress pants, a white dress shirt with a purple tie, and a purple vest. He also wore gloves of white colors and had his long hair in a tightly bound ponytail. His eyes are red, and he wore a monocle which rests on his nose bridge. Compared to his usual neat and elegant appearance, his clothes were not torn in many places and he was bleeding as he was stabbed with some weapon.

"So you have finally decided to call me, Walter? I told you if you would constantly hunt vampires in their own territory, they would send someone too strong for you to handle."

Commented Zarathul after he saw the state the man whose call he answered.

"You know, maybe I should have accepted your offer last time, now I am pursued by several Ultimate-Class Vampires that are all too strong for my wires to handle. Limitations of humans are truly severe, not able to compare to even Ultimate-Class beings."

Walter C. Dornez, Vampire Hunter who hunted vampires for his whole life and possessor of the Mid-Tier Longinus, Monofilament Vires. Newly evolved Longinus that appeared only several decades ago. The human race had very severe limitations, able to reach only High-Class in terms of strength by their hard work and talent. Only those with in-human ancestry would be able to breach this limit, but not too much of course. Only a few humans who were born as an ordinary human were able to overcome limits of the race and reach the pinnacle of the human potential where their strength was around Satan-Class. Zarathul knew only two of them, Vasco Strada and Ikuse Tobio.

"So what do you say, Walter? My offer is still on the table, you would become Devil and with my resources than even making you equivalent to the Pillar Devils in term of Devil Blood is not impossible and you would obtaining eternal life and immense power is not that impossible."

Walter looked at Zarathul and at the silver chess piece that he was fondling in his hands. He just weakly nodded his head and started the ritual and specific magical circle appeared beneath Walter. It was a magical circle in dual colors, silver and black, with Geass-Sword sigil in the center of the magical circle.

"In my name as Zarathul Bael-Lucifer, Crown Prince of Underworld of Houses Bael and Lucifer, I hereby reincarnate you to be my [Knight]."

Said Zarathul as his personal magic circle enveloped Walter and Evil Piece melted to his body and reincarnated him as Devil. Personal magic circles were usually used only by top powerhouses, for example, Sirzechs Lucifer or Ajuka Beelzebub both used the personal magic circle, which represented themselves. Zarathul also had his own magic circle as he designed it personally to represent Bael-Lucifer line, a fusion of two noblest and powerful bloodlines in the Underworld and among the devil race.

"So how are you feeling as newly Reincarnated Devil?"

Asked Zarathul as he reincarnated Walter as his new [Knight]. Before the reincarnation, Walter was already pretty strong for human as he reached the limit of their race, High-Class, though he didn't manage to reach the racial pinnacle of Ultimate-Class, even reaching High-Class was considered almost impossible for humans. For example, reason, why human exorcists were able to fight and sometimes even kill devils far above their level, was the usage of Holy Weapons.

"Pretty good, I only need to rest, I am tired too much."

After that Zarathul took Walter and sent him through the teleportation circle to Bael Castle, to recuperate as he walked out of the cave, to greet unwanted guests. He needed to properly take care of them and show them his courtesy...

Before the cave was standing around twenty vampires, all of them were wearing long crimson coats and hood, to cover their appearances. They looked at the incoming person, which was Zarathul with killing intent with their eyes as Zarathul was looking at them in the same way. No words were needed, this would be solved with just killing and shedding blood. Albeit Zarathul was releasing killing intent, he was really uninterested in these vampires.

"Pretty weak, had the vampire factions declined to such extent already? With a bunch of barely High-Classes pursing Vampire Hunter with combat prowess of Ultimate-Class? Oya, they are few of you, but you are weak even for Ultimate-Class, barely 2nd-Tier. Time to clear it up."

Murmured Zarathul as he enveloped his whole person in Power of Destruction, and his energy level was still increasing to the point, some of the vampires were already trying to escape but to no wait. Zarathul sends few waves of pure Power of Destruction at vampires, annihilating them to nothingness. Not even those Ultimate-Class one survived, as they were just Ultimate-Class of 3rd-Tier in magical powers and this attack was too sudden, exterminating them like nothing.

"Truly disgrace to once glorious race. To think, during the reign of strongest Blood Lords, they were even stronger than most Pantheons, they truly declined too much. If this was the state we could also end, truly fortunate we have made preparations to change and adapt, instead, become like this."

Said Zarathul as he looked at demolished surroundings. Now everything here was destroyed with his Power of Destruction and not even stone on stone remained. Vampires were once very strong race, but after the death of their sole Blood Lord, they started isolating themselves from the outside world and were declining even faster than devils. Compared to them, devils at least were making progress in their society.

After making a mess here, Zarathul teleported himself away, before someone stronger arrived. Still, he didn't forget to take out a few empty crystals to absorb the Negative Energy, which was created after he slaughtered those twenty or so vampires, and now he had few full Negative Energy Crystals.

* * *

After Zarathul arrived at the Bael Castle, he found Esdeath already waiting for him there. Together with her, there was also, Commander Veran and few other soldiers as they were doing the inspection of Mana Battery Cannons.

"Darling who is the person you recruited?"

Asked Esdeath curiously about the person, who caught the eye of her future husband, as he had very high standards.

"Walter C. Dornez, Vampire Hunter and very accomplished one that had hunted hundreds of vampires through his entire life, with two Ultimate-Class vampires included. Sadly for him, he walked into a trap and was ambushed by several Ultimate-Class vampires and tens of High-Class vampires. I have killed a few of them after they encountered me, ku-ku-ku."

Answered Zarathul as he knew how Walter became like that. He was ambushed by several Ultimate-Class vampires, as he was constantly hunting vampires in their own territory so they sent rather large subjugation squad to kill him. Zarathul managed to kill a few of them when he exited the cave, where they were. With the loss of on from subjugation squads, they would probably hide even more than now. After all, they lost two Ultimate-Class Vampires, though they were only 3rd-Tier and pitifully weak, in the eyes of Vamopries, they were top powerhouses. Such was the price for losing their Blood Lord.

In past Vampires had also the powerhouse on level of Super-Devil Class, but he was killed and Vampires who made many enemies, were attacked from all sides, suffering very heavy casualties and being on brink of extinction. What happened to them, was a great motivation for devils, especially those old ones. It filled them of fear if they lost their own Super-Devils their race could be also extinguished.

After that, they left and boarded the Magical Battleship Grimoire Heart as they flew toward the Valefor Territory with Devil Legions either boarding the Magical Battleship or flying beside it in combat formations. Even though Grimoire Hear was very huge, it could house at max only several thousand of devils, not whole army consisting of 20,000 soldiers.

The whole journey to the Valefor territory would take at least a few days and unfortunately for them, they could not teleport there, as there is a huge possibility of ambush.

Zarathul was currently sitting in the observatory room, looking at the beautiful view of the Underworld as he sat on the throne. As he was sitting on the throne, Esdeath was cuddling to him as she tried to sleep in his embrace and Zarathul cherished this moment greatly.

"Zarathul, I have been searching for you for last hour already."

Suddenly doors opened and a newcomer came to spoil his wonderful time with his beloved. The main reason for their leisure time was rather funny. Thanks to Kuroka organizing military affairs, to which she didn't have any experiences and was pretty bad at it as she tried to organize nekomata/nekoshou squad, Esdeath was enjoying her time alone with Zarathul.

"And I didn't want to be founded, Sairaorg. Sigh, if you are already here, come and join me. I can see that you have something on your heart."

Sighed Zarathul as he looked at young Bael as he gestured him to sit down. After Sairaorg sat down and joined Zarathul, Esdeath in her sleep twitched in anger, but Zarathul caressed her smooth blue hair as she continued to sleep. Even though she was General of Bael Clan Army, she could afford this leisure as all soldiers were trained by her personally, and they could function even without her constant presence.

"Why is all of this happening?"

Asked Sairaorg suspiciously as he looked at Zarathul's relaxed expression over his face. He just continued to caress Esdeath's hair as he enjoyed time with his lover.

"I don't quite understand what you mean if you forgive me."

Answered Zarathul indifferently, as he didn't even pay attention to Sairaorg and his suspicion or whatever.

"You understand very good. Far better than any of us. All of those changes in Underworld that happened, Reincarnation Laws and many other things that would be impossible to even think of before the Civil War. Even though the situation is not ideal, its far batter compared to before the Civil War. When you don't pay attention to things and details you won't find something in it, but when you look closer at the state of things, you would start noticing. Impossible is no longer a word."

Said Sairaorf as Zarathul just raised an eyebrow at this and looked at him with a curious gaze.

"The Great King Faction and Elder Council working together with Four Great Satans Faction, could be considered as impossible several decades ago. Something is coming to Zarathul, something big enough to even force many of the most arrogant and stubborn devils to change. At least some of them though."

Remarked as he finished speaking.

"You are pretty observant, aren't you? The only thing that I am allowed to tell you is simple. Be prepared and increase your strength as much as possible, dark times are coming for us. For now, focus on the war now. We would be reaching the Valefor Territory very soon."

Said Zarathul as he returned his attention to the view before him. Sairaorg after a short time of awkward silence left the room, and soon one servant of the Bael Clan came to him as Zarathul called.

"How is the negotiation going?"

Asked Zarathul as he continued watching the view of Underworld and Esdeath hugging his arm.

"He agreed to the initial proposition to be reincarnated as Devil and serve as General of future Imperial Army. He also said his conditions, they are not very light."

Answered servant to Zarathul, to which he just narrowed his eyes. He knew that person who they were persuading was very important to their plans. In the future nation of Devils, they would need superior generals like Esdeath to lead to a charge, but she alone was not enough. Thus they needed to search.

"Say them, his ability to command are far even higher than Esdeath's and his personal strength is even more terrifying."

Said Zarathul with resolute voice. He already discussed this with his father and Elder Council and it was decided that they must succeed at all costs.

"The first condition he wants a large amount of Negative Energy Crystals, enough to rise bloodline level to the standard of 72 Pillars and he wants to have absolute control over his army, without the intervention of other nobles and politicians. Also, he made it clear he won't take any initiative to attack Celestial Court or any parts of dimensional worlds belonging to the Chinese Pantheon."

Said envoy in charge of negotiations, as he looked at Zarathul and waited for an answer. Even though for someone these condition s might be too much, but Zarathul thought not much about them.

"Agree to it. In our race, most of the good generals were killed through the two wars and the new generation needs to be groomed. Tell Bai Qi, that he would be appointed as Grand Marshall of Armies in the future, but also give him the test. Tell him to choose some territory in the Underworld that belonged to former pillars and conquer it as proof of abilities, if not those old men in council would not agree so easily and would have bad comments."

Bai Qi, also known as Gongsun Qi was a military general of the Qin state in the Warring States period of China. Born in Mei, Bai Qi served as the commander of the Qin army for more than 30 years, being responsible for the deaths of over one million, earning him the nickname Ren Tu (human butcher). He never suffered defeat in battle not even once. He was a special person, as he was aware of supernatural and learned Senjutsu, Youjtsu, and Touki.

His personal strength was more terrifying. After his 'death' he ascended as Immortal and became something like a free general as he created his own army in the supernatural world and fought in various dimensional worlds against monsters in various regions of China, protecting the nation in shadows. Zarfathul admired such person very much and wanted to recruit him as future Marshall.

In terms of superpowers in the supernatural world, China would rank as first, despite Jade Emperor being slightly weaker than Shiva, but compared to them, Celestial Court was united, while Shiva was in military conflict with Indra for whole centuries. Celestial Court had the biggest amount of soldiers, weakest being at the Pinnacle Middle-Class, which made devil race look like some amateurs.

* * *

Several days later, Valefor Territory

After several days of travel, they finally arrived at their target, Valefor Territory, Zarathul was already prepared to battle, as he held his weapon Gáe Bolg close to him. Majestic army with 20,000 devils of Bael Legions arrived at their destination with Magical Battleship Grimoire Heart at their lead.

"Lord Zarathul, General Esdeath several kilometers ahead of us, we spotted small town, with population over 5,000. Based on energy signatures, they should be all stray devils. Awaiting further orders."

Reported sergeant in charge of the scouting in the Battleship Grimoire Heart, as they still not landed. All devils were now flying side by side with Magical Battleship in a defensive formation to protect it from sneak attacks.

"Proceed as usual. Surround the city and I will go to ask for their surrendering. Many of Stray Devils were created by abusement of their former master, though they were still some like criminals and others."

Answered Zarathul, as they proceeded as he ordered. Soon their army surrounded the city and Zarathul unleashed his eight devil wings. Compared to other devils, which had pitch-black wings, his own had some silver lines in them. He flew high above the city and looked at it before starting speaking, amplifying his voice with magic.

"For all Stray Devils attention. Surrender now, and your case would be judged by Reincarnation Laws and Common Devil Protection Laws, I give this an oath in my name as Zarathul Bael-Lucifer."

Said Zarathul with dominating voice as he then retreated back to the Magical Battleship Grimoire Heart. He was aware that most of those stray devils, there escaped very long ago from the Underworld, and many of them didn't even know about something like Reincarnation Laws. As he was aware that most of the strays were created because of abusement of their master he knew, that more than half of them would surrender. Only heavy criminals or true stray devils would remain. IOn last century, there weren't many stray devils. Besides those who really committed the offense, they were practically none.

After stray devils heard that, it happened as Zarathul predicted. The fame of the name Lucifer and Bael, especially combination of two, was really prestigious event among the stray devils and with his oath, around 3,500 of them exited the city and went voluntary surrender. Only around 1,500, they remained in the City and Zarathul already gave them enough face. Mainly because of two reasons. They were still devils, strays or not and their cases would be investigated under Reincarnation Law. There aren't any second chances.

"Accommodate all of them and put them under guard, they are still classified as stray devils. Also, start a siege of the town. Start bombarding with side cannons of Grimoire Heart, don't use Jupiter Cannon, that would be too much. Land troops on the ground and also take out Mana Battery Cannons and let them also start bombarding."

Said Zarathul as soon Magical Battleship Grimoire Heart landed down together with devils legions and surrounded town swiftly. After that, they took out the Mana Battery Cannons from the Grimoire Heart and created a siege line, and started bombarding. Every time Mana Battery Cannon shot, part of the town would be blasted to the Abyss.

Mana Battery Cannons were new technology created by the Technology Department and they were actually testing those cannons in the real combat. Before this, they weren't tested in actual combat, only in testing fields, now was their debut.

Esdeath beside him also watched bombardment with great interest. The amount of destruction caused by Mana Battery Cannons was very huge, as every cannon had power output equivalent to the High-Class in terms of strength. Soon enough, the bombardment stopped and everything was filled with just deathly silence.

"Send in troops. If someone decided surrender take them to prison. We cannot be lax with those who decided to stay in that town to fight."

Said Zarathul causally as he continued watching the situation under him, from the commanding room of the Grimoire Heart. Soon enough, the whole town was swarmed by devil troops who either killed those who resisted or captured those who surrendered. Those who survived that bombarding were either severely injured or didn't even resist, thus the entire town was swiftly taken down.

After that Zarathul gave order to camp and rest for one day before continuing in the conquest. Giving some time to soldiers for them to rest is a very important thing. After dealing with all matters regarding stray devils, Zarathul was found once again by another guest.

This time it was Kuroka who was coming to see him for the first time from the start of this operation. Even though this was a military operation she was participating, she was still clothed in her kimono, not changing her outfit even in times like these.

"Nyaa, so comfy, nyaa."

Murmured Kuroka as she hugged Zarathul from behind in a special way, as he clearly felt her breast on his back. Clear seduction.

"How are your duties doing Kuroka? I must remind you, this is a very important opportunity not just for you, but also for you people as a whole. Times of war, always give birth to the greatest heroes."

Said Zarathul as he looked at Kuroka who had a mischievous expression on her face, and her intentions were very clear. She was horny, even situation like this didn't forbid her to be in heat. Still, Zarathul just smiled, as he takes this as rather a nice opportunity to relieve some steam. If Esdeath found about it, she would scold him and probably even beat him as she didn't like doing something like this during military operations. As expected from true soldier and general.

"Yada, let's do some cute devil kittens, nya. I wanna make them...nya."

Said Kuroka as she started kissing Zarathul, trying to seduce him and have her way with him. He seeing her like this, decided just go with the flow and started undressing her after he enveloped the whole room in the bounded field.

"As you wish my beloved..."

* * *

Another day, soon in the morning, the whole army went to continue their conquest of the Valefor Territory. During the next three days, only enemies their found were some smaller groups of either composed from fallen angels or some monsters.

At the fourth day, they finally entered the region which was clearly territory of monsters, as the state her was even worse compared to others. Entire Valefor Territory could be said to be dived into two parts. One of them solely belonged to the rogue fallen angels due to their large numbers and also some creatures of other mythologies, while another part belonged to monsters like goblins and kobolds.

The land which belonged to goblins was before the region of fallen angels and other creatures from various pantheons built their bases. So in order to reach them, they needed to annihilate these ones first. Only after that, they could fight with rogue fallen angels and creatures of various mythologies.

* * *

**So another chapter finished, with conquest started and new peerage member acquired.**

**Please review and... enjoy**


	4. Valefor Territory War - Part 2

**Beirut: Zarathul's mother is the sister of Rizevim, daughter of the original Lucifer**

**Chapter 2: Valefor Territory War - Part 2, Pawn and...**

* * *

After destroying the little town of stray devils, they were on the constant move. During the "crusade" they crossed over many smaller groups of various enemies, nevertheless, they were all crushed and killed on the spot. Now they already entered the monster part of the Valefor Territory, and they faced more and more attacks. Apparently, numbers his father gave him were wrong, at least on the number of monsters located in the territory.

"What is the name of that mountain range before us?"

Asked Zarathul one of the commanders, that was in the commanding board together with him. Zarathul wasn't that well versed in the geography of the Underworld. Especially after Devils lost many of their territories in the Great War and the Civil War, many of things were buried in history. Only some people remembered them, old ones.

"Those are called Brood Mountains. Even before the Great War, nobody dared to enter those mountains. No one really knows what is inside there, but there are legends about some monster hibernating there."

Answered Commander Veran who was sitting at his side as he looked at the Brood Mountains with a hint of wariness. As they were chatting suddenly alarm sounded, it meant magical sensors caught usage of powerful magic in the sight. Combination of magic and technology was truly wonderful to some extent, it allowed the creation of many convenient things.

"My Lord, we caught the huge number of magical signatures, all of them are devils. Bearing the symbol of Old Satan Faction."

Reported on of officers to Zarathul, who was sitting on the commanding chair as he looked down at the Brood Mountains, with an indifferent expression. Even that he heard the name of Old Satan Faction wasn't any interest for him, as he already expected them.

"How many? Strongest energy signature?"

He only asked these two simple questions. Nothing else was required.

"Two thousand My Lord. The highest energy signature is 1st-Tier Ultimate-Class, it should be one of the descendants."

Answered officer respectfully as he waited for the next instruction. Zarathul just stood up from his seat and looked at the place, where members of the Old Satan Faction were located.

"Gather all troops. Surround and pincer them, but don't attack."

Everything was done as he instructed. Soon enough, thy found the members of Old Satan Faction flying in the way to the Brood Mountains. This left Zarathul interested, what would Old Satan Faction want from one of the forbidden places in the whole Underworld.

They had 20,000 soldiers, ten times more of that Old Satan Faction's and their quality was also higher, not mentioning that they had several Ultimate-Classes on their end as well. After they surrounded them, and both sides were preparing to fight, Zarathul unleashed his eight devil wings and flew high into the air and looked at members of Old Satan Faction, waiting for their leader. Deep inside he was wondering who it will be.

Creuserey had the appearance of a good looking man wearing the clothes of a noble[1]. His clothes were black with dark red belts and motifs, also wearing a cape.

He had black hair tied up in a small ponytail and violet eyes and also had pointy ears and pale skin. He had the appearance of a good looking man wearing the clothes of a noble. His clothes were black with dark red belts and motifs, also he was wearing cape.

"Creuserey Asmodeus, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing in these lands? If I remember correctly, last time you were hiding so deep in the Underworld, that even finding the way back was troublesome."

Mocked Zarathul, even though he was happy right now. From three descendants, Creuserey was the strongest one. Other two, Shalba was weakling who knew nothing else than scheme, even despite his clan trait was of similar strength as his own, still he was worth less than a piece of trash and Kateria was the same as him.

Creuserey looked at Zarathul, as he knew his identity very well. His descent was probably even more royal than his own. The descendant of both bloodlines, Lucifer and Bael, inheriting their powers too.

"Same could be said about you, Bael-Lucifer."

Answered Creuserey as he waited for Zarathul's response, which never came. The only thing that came, was slash with Zarathul's Gáe Bolg coated in Power of Destruction, aiming at his head. Creuserey barely managed to conjure several magical circles to defend himself. Still, Zarathul didn't give him any additional time, as he unleashed his Power of Destruction technique, Gate of Babylon and weapons of Power of Destruction shot at him like it was raining.

There wasn't any need for some unnecessary words, both of them new that this would be solved only by fighting to the death.

Still, he wasn't descendant of original Asmodeus for nothing, and he managed to defense against all that Power of Destruction, albeit he was beginning to feel tired and had injured all around the body. Surprisingly no soldiers, for either side moved and only people who fought in this fight were Zarathul and Creuserey. In truth, it wasn't really that surprising as the ration os soldiers were too much and 2,000 soldiers of Old Satan Faction would be slaughtered in no time if they fought.

Because Creuserey wasn't even Satan-Class, Zarathul didn't take him too seriously also, he was a person who heavily depended on magic. And that was a very bad mistake, Zarathul was an expert at dealing with magic, thanks to his Anti-Magic abilities. One of two innate abilities of Lucifer Clan, while his uncle Rizevim had another one, Sacred Gear Canceler, rendering every Sacred Gear worthless before him.

Still, he managed to attack Zarathul, by conjuring several magical circles, that shot an enormous amount of Demonic Energy straight at the place where Zarathul was standing. He only frowned at this and activated one of his Anti-Magic abilities together with Gram Demolition. This time, there were too many targets and huge targets, so he immediately activated Elemental Sight.

This was a perception-type ability that allowed him to enter and read information about the plane he was located. It had some limitations of course, as to activate it fully to read the whole plane, would require him to be Super-Devil at least because this plane was a very strong one. Still, he could use it to analyze surroundings around him, and with only several shots of Gram Demolition, he effectively destroyed everything that Creuserey sent at him.

"This is why are you weak. Fighting Anti-Mage with magic, sigh. Truly stupid. Still."

Said Zarathul as he saw that Creuserey was preparing to teleport himself out of this fight. He knew that the was no match for Zarathul, as he was only proficient in magic and his body was only about the standard of High-Class. With someone as Zarathul who combined spearmanship of Gáe Bolg with Power of Destruction as support, coupled with Anti-Magic spells, he was no matched for him.

"Though I am Anti-Mage, doesn't mean, I didn't learn anything else."

Said Zarathul, as he conjured his personal Magic Circle, and the Sword Sigil in the middle started glowing and it's light shot at Creuserey with lighting speed, twisting the space around him, as Zarathul was already there and with one slash of the Gáe Bolg at his right hand.

"AAAAHHHHH."

Only this was heard, as blood spurted into air and Creusereay teleported away, with the price of his right hand. His severed hand remained there as a trophy to the Zarathul's win in the duel. It was noble tradition, that if the side of devil nobles fought in the war and one had an enormous advantage in the number of troops, nobles would fight to decide the winner. An old tradition, that only old devils remembered.

"We swear eternal loyalty to You Highness, Zarathul Bael-Lucifer."

Shouted two thousand voices of all members of Old Satan Faction. Zarathul wasn't that surprised as he just nodded his head in agreement. Then he looked at the Brood Mountains as he had a bad feeling. After looked at the mountains, he activated Elemental Sight to its full potential as he scanned the whole Brood Mountains, until he found something.

Danger, divinity and only one signature of life.

He felt that the presence in the Brood Mountains, whatever it was, was extremely weak, on the verge of dying, but divinity he felt let him shiver in fear. It was like vortex devouring everything in its way. He only learned how to perceive divinity from Ajuka as something as support, but even though he wasn't a specialist when it came to divinity, he never felt something like this. Not even when he met Shiva. Thus he looked as at that place, soon he turned around to see Esdeath already being there together with commander Veran.

"Take army with you and clean out whole Valefor Territory. I am going to the Brood Mountains, I have scanned it with Elemental Sight, and there is something there and it is the most terrifying thing I have encountered for my whole way."

Both of them nodded solemnly hearing this. Zarathul's nickname or rather it was the title, Crown Prince of Underworld. Not only he was probably one of the most talented devils ever born and the only reason why he wasn't Super Devil was his special conditions. Someone who was acknowledged by God of Destruction Shiva himself.

Thus Zarathul flew to the Brood Mountains, while soldiers of Bael Clan, under the leadership of Esdeath, went to clear out the Valefor Territory.

After one short time, he arrived at the Brood Mountains and searched for the place from which he felt the divinity energy signature. Though it was faint, he felt it there clear as day. Soon enough he found a cave and entered.

The cave itself was not very huge, but Zarathul noticed something strange. All around the cave were a weird inscription in the stone. They were similar to nordic runes but different in style. They were very different from everything Zarathul saw when he was in Forgefire Tribe of Runic Dwarves who were under the protection of Devil Race and would be soon migrating to the Iron Mountains in Underworld.

He continued deeper and deeper in the cave, until the encountered barrier, different from barries in this world. He scanned it with Elemental Sight and soon after, he slashed it with Gáe Bolg. When he destroyed the barrier, he entered into the heart of the cave. He saw there something, which he wouldn't forget for his whole life.

Something which seemed like a black insect crawled out from within. This creature had six limbs like an arthropod, with an exceptionally large abdomen. Two sharp blades were attached to the area near its head, making it look like a comical little ball with a few blades stuck on it.

A large, exotic insect off his body. It was a meter-long worm that shone black, dragging along a strangely large abdomen with six stout legs. It looked very clumsy. The shell on the creature's back was open, and it flapped its wings from time to time. With a pair of short yet sharp pincers.

"Who? Devil?"

Asked mechanic voice coming from the unknown creature. It seemed cold and weak, Zarathul was feeling that this creature was already dying, and with the usage of the Elemental Sight, he found that its's soul was already in the process of decomposition.

"Yes, I am a devil. My name is Zarathul Bael-Lucifer. What are you?"

Asked Zarathul with a curious voice as he observed the creature. He saw that the creature was barely strong to answer him. Devils were especially sensitive to the energies around them, and Zarathul felt that the creature before him was extremely weak in terms of energy.

"You could address me as a Broodmother, came a very long time ago through the dimensional path."

When he heard those words, his eyes went wide. This was a creature that came from different dimension through the dimensional path when the last Conjunction of Spheres happened. The last Conjunction of Spheres was several thousands of years ago, his father lived through the later stages of the Conjunction of Spheres. He even survived a few fights, across dimensions.

"What happened to you? I can help you, for something in exchange."

Asked Zarathul with sincerity. He genuinely wanted help the poor creature, as when he saw her, he felt the pain she was feeling, it was a very weird experience.

"Lost in the fight against Eternal Dragon, you could say he was as strong as The Great Red in this dimension. He constantly kidnapped my kind for war and sold them as soul slaves, sadly he was too strong for me and I was severely injured, forced to flee through the void. Once I stomped on the newly opened dimensional path and appeared here. Your Evil Pieces won't help, my soul is damaged and healing process is something that not would be able to afford."

Said Broodmother with hard difficulty. Zarathul knew what those words meant, but he felt a special connection with the Broodmother and felt that she would be a very good ally.

"You want to use my Soul for Fusional Reincarnation, am I right?"

Asked Zarathul with a smile. He knew what that meant, he would use Evil Pieces to reincarnate Broodmother in the same way as he did it with Crom Cruach, and then he would fuse their souls together, or rather he would fuse her soul with his, becoming eternally tied with each other. Her soul would be healed, but it would need some time to adjust.

Manipulation with souls was not one of Zarathul's field of mastery, but he still knew some things. One of them was Fusional Reincarnation or healing soul. They were some basic things he was taught by his pact magician or some devil magicians.

"Yes, that is the only way. Your soul is compatible with mine, all people who entered before you were killed as they were unsuitable, so I killed them and prolonged thus my life. Unfortunately, it is coming to end."

Said to him the Broodmother. Zarathul nodded his head and took out all remaining extra Evil Pieces he had on hand. These were Evil Pieces he obtained through method his father told him and it took him several years to obtain several Queen Pieces and mutate them all. The whole process took around an hour to complete and them Zarathul started the spell to use part of his soul to fuse it with Broodmother's.

"AAAAHHHHH"

Screamed Zarathul out of pain as he felt that part of his soul torn away from rest and fused with Broodmother's. He only did this because he knew that his soul would regenerate after some time and usage of some precious materials, so it wasn't that problematic to give a small part of his soul to Broodmother's.

"H-how are you feeling?"

Asked Zarathul panting for breath after he finished the whole ritual. He was now feeling extremely weak, that the could barely walk. He was just laying on the ground with a satisfied smile over his face, as the ritual was successful and he managed to contract the Broodmother.

"My soul is healed, albeit weak. I need materials for recuperating and increasing my strength. When the Fusional Reincarnation was successful, I have fully returned to my larva stage and fully became part of this world and it's laws."

Answered Broodmother, this time with more energic voice than before. It was clear that the Fusional Reincarnation was successful and it even immediately took an effect.

"What are your basic abilities and what materials need?

Asked Zarathul as he needed to know the abilities of the Broodmother and what resources she needed. Soon enough, Broodmother sent a huge amount of information directly to his brain, filled with her basic abilities and what kind of materials she needed.

In regards to her abilities, now at the larva stage, she was only able to create basic drones for now. For every breakthrough, now she was 3rd-Tier Low-Class, she would obtain minor ability and for the realm, something powerful. Her specialty lied in creating drones, adapted for every environment, ultimate warriors. She was able to analyze species by devouring their corpses and create then specialized warriors.

To achieve higher levels, she needed materials. An outrageous amount of materials at that. Especially corpses and practically everything which had some energy in it, be it mana, demonic energy or the best option is divinity. She told him, that she needed divinity to advance to a higher realm. For example, he would need to get her something with a big amount of divinity to let her reach 3rd-Tier Middle-Class from 1st-Tier Low-Class. Only when crossing realms, divinity was needed, also during the creation of stronger drones, she would consume divinity, so Zarathul needed to think about the constant source of it.

"After I recuperate a bit, I will take you to the forest which is close to the place where I live. It is a forbidden area for most devils, so you will be there until you reach a sufficient level of strength and also, you can create their drones in a good environment. We will need them for the upcoming war, soon dimensional paths would open once again. If you will need anything you can tell me straight away, and I will do my best."

Said Zarathul as he laid on the ground. He needed to relocate the Broodmother to a more safe area, for her to recuperate fully, so she could focus on getting stronger and producing more and more combat drones. If she reached High-Class, she would be able to effortlessly produce High-Class combat drones. In truth, she would be able to produce them even while being in the Middle-Class, but production cost and time would be significantly longer.

"In theory, If I give you enough bodies of fallen angels and angels, would you be able to create drones absolutely immune to their light?"

This meant a lot, cause if they obtain troops that are immune to the light, they could use them as cannon fodder and their own devil troops won't be harmed by the light of any creature, not only fallen angels or angels. Even Zarathul with innate resistance to the light which is significantly weaker than him is still vulnerable to light. This could have huge use in upcoming wars during the Conjunction of Spheres.

"Possibly, but not only bodies of fallen angels and angels, but also bodies of devils. Analyze all three races need to be over 100%. All three races came from the same root, so I need all three of them to complete analyzing process."

When Zarathul heard that he shivered in excitement. They could easily gather bodies of fallen angels, and only bodies of angels would be slightly problematic as they don't leave Heaven. In regards to devils, they could use criminals sentenced to death and stray devils, that were proven to be guilty.

"In regard to angels, it would be slightly problematic as they don't leave Heaven at all."

Said Zarathul after a short time of thinking.

"If the analyze of fallen angels reach over 200% it would have the same effect, but I need at least skeletons of angels."

Only now Zarathul sighed in relief, as he knew that this would be more possible. Fining some skeletons of angels, won't be a huge problem, they only needed to dig a few battle sides in the Underworld.

"That's good then. Aside from resources do you need anything else?"

Asked Zarathul as he looked at the ceiling of the cave and then at the Broodmother.

"Hmm... conversation often would be good."

* * *

Magical Battleship Grimoire Heart, Town of Fallen

Esdeath stood on the bridge observing how her troops were surrounding the Town of Fallen, which was the small town, where all fallen angels were concentrating through the whole Valefor Territory.

An hour ago, she got a message from her beloved, that he ordered to keep every corpse of fallen angels or any other enemy. He also gave the order to collect that corpses belong to the stray devils. She didn't ask why, as she knew that this was something important, judging from seriousness in his voice. Thus she sent some soldiers to gather all corpses they made and transport them back to closes fortress.

"Commander Veran, when we could start offensive?"

Asked Esdeath as she looked at the whole high commander of the Bael Clan army, who was here participating in this expedition.

"The whole city is surrounded by our army and Mana Battery Cannons are already stationed and ready to shoot. I recommend using Jupiter Cannon to blast their defenses straight to the abyss."

Answered Commander, though Esdeath didn't want to use the Jupiter Cannon as it could destroy all targets in its the way. Still, it was the only choice they were left, as they couldn't afford to lose many troops.

"Start bombarding the city with Mana Battery Cannons and artillery on the Grimoire Heart. After 12 hours use Jupiter Cannon to destroy what remains and then invade the city and kill everyone, leave no survivors aside those in lead."

Ordered Esdeath in cold voice. This was a war against rogue fallen angels, there was no room for prisoners, only those in charge of town would be taken, to torture them and obtain information. Then they would be killed like any other fallen angel.

And as she ordered, all Mana Battery Cannons and artillery on the Grimoire Heart started bombarding in systematical intervals town, killing many fallen angels in the process. Even though the number of fallen angels wasn't higher, their light is still lethal to most of the devils, so they would firstly bombard them, kill as many as possible there and then attack already weakened fallen angels and slaughter them all.

12 hours later

The whole town was already in ruins, with many corpses of fallen angels all around the place. The bombardment was very effective, as they managed to kill more than half of the fallen angels and while injuring the rest of them to some extent.

"Launch Jupiter."

Commanded Esdeath as the main cannon of the Magical Battleship Grimoire Heart started charging and soon, it shot pure magical beam straight at the town, destroying walls and the entire part of the city, together with all fallen angels turning them to ash.

"Send the troops in."

As the command sounded, a thousand devils rose high into the sky and flew straightly at the Town of Fallen. When they were high in the sky, half of them conjured magical circles and shot a huge amount of demonic power at them, effectively killing hundreds of defenseless fallen angels. The sight of thousands of devils in the sky, shooting countless magic spell on the enemies below them and killing them on the spot looked very magnificent.

Because devils were so few in numbers, they often chose to fight safe wars instead. It meant they would firstly weaken their enemy through traps or long-distance attacks, and then strike and destroy what is left. They weren't like som Pantheons, to whom mobilizing hundreds of thousand soldiers was nothing at all.

"Tell Kuroka to divide her nekoshou into squads and then head to clear out Valefor Territory completely. Collect all corpses, order from Lord Zarathul."

Said Esdaeth as she observed as the city fell. Now the biggest player in the Valefor Territory, rogue fallen angels were done, they could clear out the territory completely. Of course, they need to collect all corpses, as they would be of great use to Broodmother.

* * *

Castle of Zekram Bael

Today was like any other one, with just one small change. Today there was a small meeting in the ancient castle of the First Bael. In the small courtyard, there were several people sitting around a small table.

One of them was a handsome man who seems to be in his early 20's, with shoulder-length crimson red hair and blue-green eyes. Formerly known as Sirzechs Gremory, now holding the post of the Lucifer, one of the Four Great Satans. Also, Super-Devil one of the powerhouses in the Devil Race.

Besides him was sitting another one of the Four Great Satans, Ajuka Beelzebub, formerly known Astaroth. Ajuka is a bewitchingly beautiful and attractive young man appearing in his early twenties, with light blue eyes and green hair that is slicked back. He has a mysterious aura around him which he claims makes him seem devilish. Another Super-Devil of Devil Race. All three Super-Devils were present.

Another person, Mephisto Pheles is a middle-aged man with gelled hair, which is a mixture of red and blue. He has heterochromia; his left eye is blue, while the right is red. He also gives out a mysterious atmosphere.

The last person was a middle-aged blonde man, with pink eyes and clothed in what was looking more like a military uniform, rather than noble attire. Lord Agares, Archduke of 72 Pillars and second-highest ranked Pillar House. They were also in the lead of one biggest and powerful Legions in the Underworld and were in charge of hunting all Stray Devils.

"So can we start already?"

Asked Zekram with serious as he looked at people sitting around the table. Basically, all devils factions were here, sitting behind one table and discussing the state of the devil race.

"So, the first thing that needs to be addressed, we need to speed up the conquest of lost territories.

If we want to establish the nation, before the Conjunction of Spheres happens, we need to have a lot of free space, where our subjects could expand. Be it devils or not. General Esdeath Partas, who is also fianceé of my son, has already captured former territories of Houses Marbas and Buer. Valefor Territory should be cleaned within a week or so. My son already recruited General Bai Qi to act as general of Devil armies. In regards to everything else, The Great King Faction is ready."

Said Zekram as all devils had solemn expressions when they heard that feared thing, Conjunction of Spheres. Everyone here knew name Esdeath Partas, she was the commander of the Bael Clan legions, who conquered lost territories and led her army to many victories. Prodigious commander and also, fearsome warrior. She was also, heir of the Partas Clan, which was Extra Demon Clan.

"We need to rally soldiers and let them clean out surrounding territories, which are not close to any other pantheon, especially Hades. I have already ordered legions of Agares Clan to march to former territories and start clearing them out. It would take some time to reclaim all of them, but first, we need some to accommodate Oni Tribes and Nekoshou-Nekomatas. Fortunately, the number of stray devils, have lessened drastically over the years, thanks to the Reincarnation Laws, so my forces could focus fully on the clearing out the territories. Besides that, Neutral Pillar Faction is ready."

Stated Archduke Agares. Thanks to the implementation of Reincarnation Laws, a number of stray devils were almost abysmal compared before that. This lead to that, Agares Clan could focus most of their soldiers on reclaiming lost lands for the devil race.

"Extra Demon Clans, will return and participate in the affairs of Devil Race once more. Besides that placing Bonded Fields and building Magical Towers have already started, fortification of cities is going well and placing magical defenses over fortresses is almost done. Also, some of them like Melabranche are returning back to the military. Extra Demon Faction is ready."

Said Mephisto Pheles. Extra Demon Clans are the houses of top-class Devils who are not a part of the 72 Pillars. Currently, most of the Extra Demons have secluded themselves from the current Devil Society, not wanting to involve themselves with the government, but now that era would come to an end.

"We need unity in the times that are coming. Our society has changed over the years, but now we are divided, tomorrow we would be united. But I am telling you one thing Zekram."

Said Sirzechs, with carefree voice, corresponding to his personality but not his position.

"I don't wanna that position."

Said Sirzechs with a smile as he looked at Zekram. He has a very laid-back personality, preferring to do things at his own pace and causing his wife to punish him for it. Even doing his job as now it is, was sometimes too much for him, and most of the administrative work was in truth done, by his wife, Veala. She was a member of Bael Clan, and was very similar to his mother Venelana, either be it appearance or especially her strict personality.

"Don't look at me, you know me very well, that I am not even good at doing my current job."

Said Sirzechs as Ajuka nodded his head from the side. Ajuka, however, doesn't care much about the role as a Satan, focusing more on his hobby over his job, and also has an easy-going nature like his fellow Satans. Seeing Zekram sigh in defeat, Sirzechs showed a victorious smile.

"Four Great Satans Faction is already."

Said Sirzechs as he looked Zekram.

"Now that all present agreed, from onwards, Devil Government would be dissolved, replaced with High Council of Imperium of Devil. When the conquest of Valefor Territory is done, creation of Imperium of Devil would be official, and I would take up the role being Emperor before my son is ready."

This was something that was decided long ago, that Zarathul would be groomed as future Devil Emperor. One of the reasons was that, when Ajuka tested him, he noticed that both bloodlines, Baelô and Lucifer were in the process of fusion, creating something new, passable to descendants. Also, Zarathul's talent be it magic, combat or commanding troops was one of the millennia. Another problem was that there was nobody who would be either suitable or wanted the post itself.

One of the best choices were either Ajuka or Sirzechs, as they were heroes of the Civil War, but sadly not even one wanted. Then there only one person remained, Zekram. Emperor needed to be Super-Devil so he would lead the people, not sit behind.

Choosing Emperor was no simple matter, it must be someone strong and noble bloodline with unlimited potential to get even stronger and have the right amount of leadership skills and charisma. Still, the unification of the devil race, finally came to the end, like it was during the times of Original Four Great Satans, where devils stood fart stronger and more important united than today.

Suddenly as they were discussing affairs, one of the guards rushed in an extreme hurry to the courtyard and immediately went to report.

"My Lords, Runic Dwarves are under attack. We got the report from Devils guarding their city, that several dragons are attacking their settlement, in lead with some new Evil Dragon, but Commander in charge noticed the smell of Grim Reapers, they are probably hiding behind dragons. Currently, they are holding, with only a few devil soldiers and dwarven guards died during the ambush, but now all of them retreated to the city, where bounded field and many magical barries activated and are guarding the city, but dragons are fiercely attacking the barries without the stop."

When the guard finished his report, everyone turned very serious. Runic Dwarves were allies of Devils, they were rather small in population, but they were master craftsman, who was only one in the world able to create Runes and had many Runemasters. They sold runes to Devils, creating a new type of fighters, called Rune Knights.

Runes were fascinating things. They could enhance many aspects, or even create resistances to some things, like elements. While not possible to gain full resistance, but they were Rune Knights with around 20% resistance tot he lights and holy elements. Other runes, could enhance the effects of spells or other wondrous effects.

"I will go, that old skeleton is becoming more daring by day."

Said Zekram with a solemn voice. His statement caught everyone by surprise. He could be considered as an ancient entity already, as he was several thousand years old, so no many remembered him. But those who did knew that he was a truly a terrifying entity.

"What are you shocked all? With this announcement, we will shock the world once more, and I as future Emperor, need to show them that we devils are still standing strong. Another point I hate that skeleton, I want to beat him up."

Said Zekram as he stood up. One uniqueness about Devil Race, was that older they were, stronger they became. Zekram Bael was Super-Devil, even several thousand years ago, since then he just stayed in shadows, thus most people forgotten about him, even many Devils weren't aware that they had one more Super-Devil.

"Soldier, bring me my armor and sword, today I will paint the sky with some dragon blood and broken bones."

So, today in this day, the world would remember, name Zekram Bael once again as his Power of Destruction would spread in his enemies.

* * *

Underground settlement of the Runic Dwarves

Currently, the whole underground settlement of the runic dwarves was shielded by bounded field and many other magical barriers. The situation was now rather good, the only things that were destroyed were surroundings and only a few dead devils and dwarven guards, but the rest was fine.

There were tens of dragons swarming around the bounded field, waiting for the moment when the bounded field would be breached. They were let by a huge jet-black western dragon, who was radiating ominous aura around him.

Suddenly as they were attacking the bounded field of the runic dwarven settlement, magic circle appeared out of nowhere. It was a yellow magic circle, with letter 'B' in middle of it, the magic circle of Bael Clan. Someone arrived, and this caught the attention of all dragons who were currently attacking the bounded field.

A middle-aged man with jet black hair and purple eyes walked out of the magic circle. He was clothed in the pitch-black armor, most of the armor was crafted from dragon leather, while knees and his arms were covered in a thin layer of some black metal. He was holding black katana with red lines in his right hand, and his 12 devil wings were unleashed in their full beauty.

As soon as Zekram arrived, he unleashed an enormous amount of Power of Destruction and coated his whole sword in it. Then he just performed simple slash, aimed at dragons beneath him and sent a wave of Power of Destruction straightly at them, obliterating more than twenty dragons at the spot.

"Come little lizards, face your death."

Said Zekram as he flew with lightning speed at the leading dragon, and slashed at the throat of the dragon. Blood spurted int he air and dragon roared in the pain. As he saw, that his enemy is too strong, he attempted to fly away, with his giant wings already flapping at their best speed.

Zkeram just chuckled seeing the frightened dragon and conjured several magical circles, which shot one huge lightning a the dragon. As the dragon was busy at trying to get away, he wasn't paying attention to what Zekram was doing, and he was hit by the lightning, paralyzing him and causing him to fall down.

"How long are you going to watch the show, you pile of rusty bones?"

Screamed Zekram as he looked at a certain direction, far away from the settlement of the runic dwarves.

"So it was you who arrived, old bat. Why are you bats so meddlesome, you are like a plague, being everywhere and almost impossible to be disposed of."

Said creepy voice of figure which revealed itself. Hades has the appearance of a skeleton dressed in attire worn by high priests. He gives off a creepy aura. Despite having no eyes, his eye sockets can glow to give the appearance of eyes.

"Come Hades, I will make a bone meal out of you!"

Said Zekram slowly as the atmosphere around him started to change and his whole persona was coated in the crimson aura of Power of Destruction, with his eyes glowing like a light in the darkness.

* * *

**So another chapter is done and Pawn was introduced. I said it would be someone extremely powerful and interesting. For those of you, it is from the novel "City of Sin" written by Yanyu Jiangnan/Misty Rain of Jiangnan, very good Xuanhuan. **

**Basically, Broodmother is of the Worldeater race, something like a combination of Tyranids and Zerg, although drones of Worldeater race could have cultivation and also, Broodmother could cultivate. They could create my extremely overpowered drones... shortcoming is that they lean more on quality than quantity, but that is better for me...**

**So I hope you enjoyed, please review and tell me your opinions. Now story would take more kingdom building, army building, wars and conquests, domestic affairs and all that stuff.**

**We are two years before cannon, so many things need to be done before the cannon starts. I will follow the cannon only to some point...**


	5. Imperium

**Chapter 5: Imperium**

* * *

Settlement of Runic Dwarves

Both Zekram and Hades stood high in the air and soon even Hades started radiating huge amount of the Divine Power as his Divinities were extremely powerful ones. He was God of Dead and also, God of the Underworld, meaning he had Divinity of the Underworld, which gave him a huge advantage when fighting in the Underworld.

Still, Zekram wasn't any weaker than him, he was Super-Devil, both if magical capacity and body strength, someone who trained for thousands of years, unlocked the True Form and even got his True Name.

"Come on Hades, I will rip out that Divine Spark out of you skeletal body and this time It will be me who will be King of the Underworld and Imperium would be stronger than your Grim Reapers."

Said Zekram as he slashed with his sword aiming at Hades's head, effectively causing him to several tens of kilometers back, crashing in the mountain behind him. Even though Hades might be stronger than Zekram in terms of pure energy, but his combat experiences were almost none existent. He was only inside his shrine in the territory of Grim Reapers and managed various things. He wasn't any kind of expert warrior or anything like that.

This time Zekram's aim was very clear and simple. He intended to rip out Divine Spark of Underworld out of Hades's body and absorb it himself. This would give him something like control over Underworld. The reason why Grim Reapers were stronger than Devils, was precisely this. Hades had Divine Spark of Underworld, which allowed him to be recognized by Will of the Underworld as one of its own, by extension even Grim Reaper species. This meant, they would be stronger in the Underworld, facing bottlenecks in the cultivation of magic or other energy they had would be almost non-existent.

"You filthy bat!"

Screamed Hades out of pain, though he was listed in Top Ten Strongest of Earth Realm, there were many who could easily defeat him. The only reason why he was on that list was that he was King of the Underworld and had an excessive amount of Divine Power, outclassing even Zeus. Even though he wasn't a fighter, like Zekram, someone who trained till this day and was only one step behind Hades in terms of energy and body strength was at a similar level.

As Hades managed to stand up, he conjured huge pitch-black scythe and slashed at Zekram, who just chuckled at this attack. Zekram easily defended against the incoming scythe slash with his katana and created several orbs out of Power of Destruction, which shot at hades with lightning speed.

When Hades saw that his dead eyes twitched in anger, and he tried to defeat by creating barrier out of Divine Power, but unfortunately for him, those orbs of Power of Destruction, tore them down like nothing and crashed into Hades, immediately destroying his golden armor and even part of his body was destroyed by fearsome Power of Destruction.

"I must tell Hades, that even though you may have a terrifying amount of the Divine Power, your lack of experience is truly laughable."

Mocked Zekram, as he slashed at Hades, who tried to defend against his attacks. Sparks were in the air, as his Katana and Hades's scythe collided in the air and each other was trying to break through the defense of his enemy.

In the end, it was Zekram who won the exchange as he managed to get opening and kicked Hades with his leg, causing him to shot back several meters back.

"Even Zeus and Poseidon would be far many times better compared to you, Hades. At least Zeus knew how to fight and if not for your Divine Spark, you won't be ever on that list. Though many people just don't want to reveal themselves."

Said Zekram as he walked to Hades, who suddenly summoned a huge number of Divine Power and shot it at Zekram. To this, Zekram gripped his sword with both of his hands and used it to defend himself, supporting it with his boundless magical power.

Even though Hades's Divine Power was very strong and potent thanks to him being the holder of two Divine Sparks, it was worthless before Zekram who was a more experienced fighter than Hades. Zekram easily blocked all that Divine Power with his katana and magical powers as he appeared before Hades and pierced him through with his katana.

"So, Hades. Say goodbye to the Divine Spark of the Underworld and to your post as the God of the Underworld."

Said Zekram with a chuckle as he started tearing out his Divine Spark of the Underworld. It was an extremely painful and dangerous process, but soon it was done and Zekram was holding little black gold spark, looking like a miniature pyramid in his right hand. After this Hades's aura was decreasing at the visible rate as he lost one of his sources of the Divine Power.

"Sadly that I can't kill you right now and risk full out war with Olympus."

Complained Zekram as he looked at Hades who was holding at his last stretch to stay conscious. The moment Zekram held in his hands the Divine Spark of the Underworld, it was noticed by everyone.

* * *

Underworld

Till to one concrete moment, everything was silent in the Underworld as it used to be. No one led wars and only minor skirmishes with some wild monsters or rogue entities were fought.

Till this one moment, whole Underworld started to shake as an earthquake came and it was probably the biggest earthquake they had experienced to this day. Everyone felt weird at the moment, like calm before the storm.

And then the storm hit. From the deepest part of the Underworld, the Core of the World, where the World's will slumbered, the huge wave was sent out. It was going like lightning, and everyone felt it.

Thunder started roaring high in the sky and winds were strong. Only a very few individuals across the whole Underworld were aware of what was happening at the moment, but soon they all knew, as all of these signs were accompanied by mighty voice, which resounded through the whole Underworld. To the ear of every devil, grim reaper, oni, nekoshou, fallen angel, god, and many many others.

"In my name as Zekram Bael, new God of the Underworld, I proclaim the formation of the Imperium, Eternal Empire of the Underworld, that command I, Emperor Zekram Bael, all subjects heed my order."

After this proclamation, the real storm took the place. In just hours, newly formated Imperial Army and Imperial Legions were stationed at borders of the new nation in the Underworld, Imperium of Devil.

Many things brought shock as the Imperial Army was led by its newly appointed Grand Marshall, Asura Bai Qi. Sirzechs Gremory, who returned to his original name, as Zarathul was rightfully Lucifer heir, personally led Imperial Legions in their newly created armors by runic dwarves and personally defended to border with Grim Reapers and Olympus as there was a high probability of war between Imperium and Olympus.

What caught the attention of many people was the sight of Zarathul Bael-Lucifer, son of Zekram Bael as he was leading the group of Knight looking individuals clothed in intimidating armors, not all of them were devils, as some of them were from Oni race and there were even a few male nekoshou.

All of them met in a small command tent as Zarathul, Sirzechs, Ajuka, Falbium, and Bai Qi all sat around the table and were staring at various magical screens showing the state of the forces of Hades and even Olympus already sent their warriors and there would be probably war.

"Hello, gentlemen."

When he entered the room, everybody noticed the change about him. It was his aura before it was on the Ultimate-Class, but now it was definitely Satan-Class. Zarathul has become a new Satan-Class powerhouse, on their side.

"Don't stare too much, it's rude. I know that you have noticed that I have already reached the Satan-Class. As my father integrated, fused and refined the Divine Spark, compared to Hades who only integrated with is as you can refine only one Divine Spark, I was also influenced by it the most as his direct descendant, and after usage of some mana stones and other things, I have managed to bring myself to the Satan-Class level, though my power is highly unstable, as I need to stabilize my demonic powers."

Integration with Divine Spark and fusion together with refinement of Divine Spark were two separate entities. You could integrate yourself with several Divine Sparks at the same time, but they could be taken from you, as his father did with Hades. Fusion and Refinement, were much more complicated process, as you are basically becoming one entity with your Divine Spark and even if you are killed, Divine Spark would return to dust, or rather it will return tot he Will of the World.

"So how is the situation?"

Asked Zarathul as everyone now held a very serious face. It was Grand Marshall Bai Qi, who took lead to explain the current situation. He was a man in his late thirties, with cold expression and aura of slaughter was just leaking of him and everyone could feel his thirst for battle. Besides being a military genius, Bai Qi was also a powerhouse on the 1st-Tier Satan-Class level.

"From what we Grim Reapers have started mobilizing under the leadership of Thanatos and Pluto. Also, Zeus is personally leading an army of Olympian warriors to join them together with Poseidon, Ares, and Athena."

Reported Bai Qi with a straight expression as he looked at people here.

"Our only disadvantage is probably lack of powerhouses. I and Ajuka will take care of Zeus and Poseidon, which leaves Thanatos, Pluto, Ares, and Athena. I would suggest that Grand Marshall Bai Qi would take Thanatos and Zarathul would fight with Ares while Falbium would fight Pluto. I suppose that Athena would stay behind to command the army, which could be left to General Esdeath on our side."

Thus current strategy was presented by Sirzechs Gremory, current General-Commander of the Imperial Legions to all people present. It was rather a good strategy. Even though Zarathul wasn't very pleased by the fact that he would fight Ares, God of War, someone of the 1st-Tier God-Class, but alas it was his duty as the Crown Prince of the Imperium that he would lead.

"I must admit that I am significantly weaker than Ares, but I have something very good to say that my [Rook] Crom Cruach will head here soon enough and he will fight Ares, while I will go for Athena, while she is strong Goddess, I should be able to defeat her."

Said Zarathul as everyone gaped as they heard that Crom Cruach would come. Someone who was very very close to the Heavenly Dragon Class, and probably in a few years he would become new Heavenly Dragon. What shocked most of them was the fact that Zarathul somehow managed to get Crom Cruach to join him.

"Then if Crom Cruach is coming, our situation is getting many times better, when will he arrive?"

Asked Grand Marshall Bai Qi after giving it a short thought.

"Maybe half an hour, I don't know exactly when I guess we need to hold our ground before Crom Curach arrives or father would come."

Suddenly as all of them were engaged in a heated discussion of the future plans for the upcoming battle, suddenly thunders started roaring in the sky and it was a sign that Zeus, God King of Olympus was coming.

"So, here it begins."

Siad Zarathul as everyone nodded and flew high in the air. Sirzechs was clothed in his old general armor from times of Civil War and Ajuka was the same. Sirzechs's armor was bloody red while Ajuka's was green. Falbium was in his usual clothes as they were basically armor.

When the first thunder sounded, the whole Imperium army immediately took their posts and prepared to fight. Zarathul was leading his Temple Knights as they were all of the Ultimate-Class, they would hide in backround and strike their command down.

And then he appeared, Zeus, King of the Sky and Ruler of Olympus. While he wasn't on the Top 10 Strongest List, many weren't on that list as they just refused or just chose to remain hidden. Zeus himself was a middle-aged man, with golden hair and bronze eyes. He was clothed in greek styled armor and was gripping his weapon, Master Bolt in his right hand.

Besides him was another man of similar age, with sea-blue hair and shining azure eyes, armored in light scaled greek armor and trident. Poseidon, God of Oceans and Earthquakes.

"As I can see, you didn't come here with good intentions, didn't you? Zeus."

Asked Sirzechs with a mild smile, though he didn't bother to hide his overwhelming killing intent. While he spent recent decades as Satan and was bit airhead, he was a warrior to the core, similar to other devils. While the recent younger generation has forgotten about that, devil race was fighting race that strived to be strongest.

"You know very good why are we here, Lucifer. War is inevitable."

Answered Zeus with a grim voice as he looked at Sirzechs and rest.

"I am not Lucifer any more, but I guess you are right, war is inevitable. Our species has enjoyed too much of piece and our younger generation is soft and becoming weak. Come on, God of Sky."

Said Sirzechs as Power of Destruction exploded around him and he appeared straight before Zeus, striking him with one of his spheres created out of the Power of Destruction. Moment of surprise was deciding element, and devils grasped it very good.

Ajuka and Falbium did the same and to Poseidon and Pluto respectively. Then Grand Marshall Bai Qi unleashed his blade and with the extremely ferocious attack, he slashed at Thanatos, severing his left arm in one strike, which shocked almost all people here.

Then out of nowhere, another person radiating overbearing aura has appeared. With an appearance of a tall handsome man wearing a black coat with a long mixture of black and blond hairs as well as heterochromatic eyes where his right eye is gold and his left eye is black and he has pointed ears. Crom Cruach was here and he immediately attacked Ares, God of War.

After powerhouses started their respective fights, only two didn't participate. On the Olympian side, it was Athena, who was commanding troops and on their side, it was Zarathul, who was waiting for the right moment to strike together with his Temple Knights.

Thousands and thousands of soldiers of the Imperium, consisting of Devils and some Nekoshou and Oni were clashing against the same amount of Grim Reapers and Olympian warriors. Fortunately, because Zekram Bael, Emperor of the Imperium, The Devil Emperor has become the God of the Underworld, their side held immense advantage while fighting in the Underworld.

As they were fighting and the war was in the full, suddenly huge explosion of Ice and some unknown power could be seen in the west wing of the Olympian army. When Zarathul looked there, he almost froze as he knew who was there.

Grayfia Lucifuge is a beautiful young woman appearing to be in her early twenties with back-length silver hair that features a long braid on each side with small blue bows at the ends, while the rest is let down which ends in twin braids and silver eyes.

From Zarathul's love interests, Grayfia was always his first, not only because she was his first love, but she was also the first woman to be engaged to him and she practically got all of his first time, and he got all of her first times. Only after some time, he met Esdeath and, with Esdeath's personality, she and Grayfia were very competitive against each other.

"We will charge into the West Wing immediately and crush the Olympian forces!"

Said Zarathul as he saw Grayfia using her Power of Annihilation, which was similar to his own Power of Destruction in certain aspects. All Temple Knights immediately stood up and unleashed their wings and followed after Zarathul.

"Follow the Crown Prince! For Victory!"

Was heard among the Devils who were fighting. Zarathul was like an unstoppable machine with his Power of Destruction as he was slaughtering tens of Olympian warriors and Grim Reapers with each attack of his style, Gate of Babylon.

Seeing that their Crown Prince was leading and massacring hundreds with ease, morale was high as they followed his charge and totally obliterating the western wing of the Olympian Army. Soon enough, the entire west wing of the Olympian Army started crumbling and falling apart.

"Gray-chan!"

Said Zarathul as he rushed to Grayfia and hugged her close to him. Truth to be told, nobody would tell that Grayfia is a fearsome warrior and powerhouse as she looked like a typical high-class lady. Though even Zarathul feared her very mich when she was angry.

"I am alright my love and I did not come alone."

Said Grayfia as something else happened. Thousands of Devils appeared from behind her as they were marching to the battlefield, bearing the flags of the Lucifer Clan and Lucifuge Clan. Zarathul knew what this meant, Old Satan Faction has officially broken out with some of their members. More than half of the Devils of Old Satan Faction were loyal to the Lucifer Clan and some of them to the Lucifuge Clan. Only a small part was loyal to weaklings like Shalba, Katerea, and Creuserey.

"So it really happened, probably the fact I have severed Creuserey's arm didn't help to maintain the strength of those ants."

Said Zarathul with a smile as he looked like former soldiers of the Old Satan Faction marched before Zarathul who was still hugging Grayfia, then he looked at soldiers of the Lucifer Clan and Lucifuge Clan, who were practically core of the Old Satan Faction, now they left whole Old Satan Faction would soon be turned to the dust.

"Loyal soldiers of the Lucifer Clan and Lucifuge Clan, I descendant of the Lucifer and Heir of Lucifer Clan, hereby welcome your pledge and now I give you my first order. Annihilate these pests that are threatening Imperium."

And thus thousands of Devils swarmed and started ferociously attacking the western wing and slaughtering the Olympian warriors and Grim Reapers alike under the leadership of Zarathul, Grayfia, and Temple Knights.

Soon enough this caught the attention of Athena, who unfortunately couldn't do anything about the collapsing western wing, just send more reinforcements. She even considered personally joining the western wing, but she was no match for Zarathul, especially now under the support of Grayfia.

"Aye, aye, aye what are you ants doing here, Zeus?"

Said man with a cheery voice. He had the appearance of a middle-aged man in his forties with dark silver hair and hazel eyes. He had a silver beard on his chin and was radiating weird creepy aura around his body. He also wore same Maou Lucifer attire as Sirzechs, although in silver color.

As soon as those words sounded in the battlefield, everything fell silent. Nobody moved, everyone just looked at the newcomer man with either amazement, shock, despair or fear.

"Fear not friends of the Imperium, as here I am, Rizevim Livan Lucifer!"

Now even Zeus and Poseidon tensed at his words. Even before all of their gods were at major disadvantage. Poseidon was barely holding his ground against Ajuka as there wasn't any ocean or water. Ares was barely standing as Crom Cruach was just toying with him.

What was shocking was the fact that both Thanatos and Pluto were killed by Bai Qi and Falbium on the spot. The situation was very grim for Olympus, especially the Western Wing was practically destroyed, and the rest of the Army wasn't better.

"Retreat."

Facing overwhelming disadvantages, Zeus grudgingly ordered for a retreat. Now that Rizevim joined the fray, there was no chance for victory, so the only choice would be to retreat now before Zekram would arrive and then four Super Devils would easily kill Olympians.

* * *

What happened next was a series of shocks which shook the entire Supernatural World as now. Practically everyone in the world was talking about events which happened at the former settlement of Runic Dwarves and then that battle at the Underworld against Olympians.

So the first thing, Zekram Bael appeared after a very long time once again and almost killed Hades of Olympus, tearing out the Divine Spark of the Underworld and becoming the new God of the Underworld.

Then there was the formation of the new nation in the Underworld, Imperium. This was the thing, which probably shocked most people in the Supernatural World, as several races combined their strength into one. Races of Devil, Nekomata/Nekoshou, Runic Dwarves and Oni became one nation, with Zekram Bael became Emperor of the Imperium.

Lastly, there was a battle when hot-headed gods of Olympus invaded Underworld together with Grim Reapers with Thanatos and Pluto. This actually resulted in huge slaughter of Olympian warriors and Grim Reapers. Thanatos and Pluto were killed in the battle and Olympus was drastically weakened.

To Imperium, the structure of the newly created nation was rather simple. Zekram Bael became Emperor as he was the strongest Devil out there and he was a practice the most suitable person there.

Beneath the supreme authority of the Emperor, there was Imperium High Council which consisted of several people who were a closest advisory group of Emperor. It consisted of:

Grand Marshall of Imperial Army, currently held by Asura Bai Qi. Supreme Commander of the Imperial Military and leader of all armed forces. He was responsible for everything related to war and defense of the Imperium.

General-Commander of Imperial Legions, held by Sirzechs Gremory. Imperial Legions were elite soldiers of the Imperium, each of them at least of 3rd-Tier High-Class. Usually both in Demonic Powers and Body Strength. Legions were further divided into two sub-divisions, Knight Legion, and Battlemage Legions.

Grandmaster of Temple Knights, this post was held by Crown Prince of the Imperium, Zarathul Bael-Lucifer. Temple Knight Order, was a group of Ultimate-Class powerhouses both in Demonic Powers and Body Strength, elite of elites, best of the best. All Temple Knights were also, Rune Knights, inscribed with runes, giving them far higher combat abilities above those of the same Class.

High Councillor of Imperial Senate, Serafall Leviathan. Leader of the Imperial Senate, which was ruling body of the Imperium, answering to the Emperor. Responsible for managing political issues, and ordinary things.

Director of Magic Department Mephisto Pheles. Responsible for researching magic and inventing new spells and things of similar character. This was one of the utmost importance for the Imperium as soon the hard time would befall and then the only strength would talk.

Director of Technology Department Ajuka Beelzebub who was leading the modernization of the Imperium. His inventions as Mana Battery Canon or Magical Battleship would be soon leading the arms race in the Supernatural World.

In the night, rather a weak Devil Faction transformed into a superpower, almost rivaling those strong Pantheons. What helped most probably was the fact, that most soldiers of the Old Satan Faction joined Imperium as they were originally soldiers of the Lucifer Clan and Lucifuge Clan.

* * *

Imperial Capital Lucifaad

When the Imperium was created, it was decided that Lucifaad would be once again the Capital City of devils, something akin symbol of returning to the old glory. Lucifaad was far more impressive and intimidating city compared to the Lilith. Also, Citadel of Lucifaad was one of the best fortresses across the Supernatural World.

"So how is the state of things?"

Asked Zekram in a deep voice, now that he fused and refined Divine Spark, he managed to increase his Demonic Energy Level and soon became 1st-Tier Super Devil-Class powerhouse. Only one small step behind powerhouses like Shiva, but now he was on equal footing with those like Odin or Indra.

"We are keeping our army on borders, preventing further attacks. Fortification is being built and hundreds Mana Battery Cannons are being used in this task. Also, soon enough we are planning to start invasion into most territories of Extinct Pillars and remains of the Old Satan Faction."

Said Bai Qi with a grin as he looked at Emperor Zekram. Bai Qi was war maniac, who wanted nothing more than war and lead soldiers. Still, it was the truth that Bai Qi was one of the best commander and leaders across the Supernatural World.

"Good, we need enough territory to accommodate all of our people, some core areas of Devils are already becoming overpopulated. This problem needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Serafall how is the state of the Imperial Senate?"

Serafall Leviathan was elected to be High Councillor of the Imperial Senate, where representatives of the Devils, Nekoshou/Nekomata, Oni and Runic Dwarves would discuss their problems. She was very good in handling politics so this field was left to her.

"The first gathering of the Imperial Senate would happen in next few days to discuss the internal working of the Imperium, I believe this model would be more effective than leaving all things for Zechs-chan to do."

Said Serafall as she glared at Sirzechs who was sitting at the side and looking like nothing happened.

"Yes, he would be better suited as the General-Commander of the Imperial Legions while his wife would be his assistant. This way he won't slack off his job like when he was Satan."

Said Zekram with a slight grin as Sirzechs completion changed to worse, clearly not liking this situation. He knew that when his wife would be his asssisstant he would be forced to work seriously and not slack of.

"Zarathul how is the state of the Old Satan Faction now?"

Asked Zekram his son, who was sitting in the room with them as he was Grandmaster of the Temple Knight Order.

"They have lost more than 80% of their soldiers, as most of their soldiers were that of the Lucifer Clan and Lucifuge Clan. Now that Lucifer Clan left them, all their soldiers returned to me as Heir of the Lucifer Clan. Also, from what I have heard from Grayfia, there is huge unrest among the remaining forces as I have severed Creuserey's arm and forced him to flee, his soldiers aren't convinced about his strength and there are talks about disbanding."

Answered Zarathul, surprising some people, but such an outcome was understandable. Old Satan Faction was practically nothing without elite soldiers of the Lucifer Clan and Lucifuge Clan, they were creating around 80% of their army.

"Very good. Next thing, Grayfia would take up her role as Head of the Lucifuge Clan and you Zarathul, as Head of Lucifer Family. Both seats in the Imperial Senate are empty and need to be filled up. Next issue is that you will mary both Esdeath and Grayfia as soon as possible, to preserve the bloodline of our houses. I would be better if you can take more Pure-Blooded Devil Ladies as your spouse to spread the bloodline of Bael Clan and especially Lucifer Clan, as Anti-Magic would be very useful for us."

Said Zekram and Zarathul just nodded in agreement, as he knew that it was his responsibility to preserve the bloodline of his house. A number of Pure-Blooded devils were very low and their birth rate was also low, so preserving bloodline and increasing the population of the Pure-Blooded Devils was one of the priorities for the Devil Race. Zarathul was rather used to this, and though among the Pure-Blooded Devil Ladies, there were only two people whom Zarathul had "very close" relationship. Cleria Belial and Serafall Leviathan.

"Grand Marshall Bai Qi how is the fortification of our borders going?"

Currently, in terms of defense, there were many things o do. One of more important was, of course, build up fortification on the borders to prevent possible attacks on the territory of the Imperium.

"Progress is stable. With the help of the dwarves, everything is going much faster and easier. Their building abilities are truly above all other races. Mana Battery Cannons are also, installed on all fortresses and castles to fortify our borders."

Zekram then nodded his head and afterward they discussed many other things. The last thing to be discussed was an issue of the Broodmother of the Worldeater Race, that Zarathul managed to bind to himself with the very dangerous procedure.

"Zarathul you can start. I must tell you before we start, that this information is considered of the highest priority to Imperium."

Said Zerkam as everyone tensed and Zarathuls stood up and conjured magical circle, which projected the image of the Broodmother, which caught the interest of every person in the room.

"As you may already know, during the Conquest of the Valefor Territory, I have encountered Creuserey Asmodeus and some soldiers of the Old Satan Faction. The outcome you know, but the location, where I have encountered them, was Brood Mountains. Afterward, I have entered the Brood Mountains to search them, why did the Old Satan Faction show such an interest for that godforsaken place."

Explained Zarathul as everyone listened with high interest. Brood Mountains were very famous in the Underworld and especially amongst the Devil Race, as nobody managed to fully search them, as everyone who entered them died.

"I found a center of the Mountains, weird cave, which was entirely covered in runes, but not runes of our world. When I have entered I have seen a creature, this creature had six limbs like an arthropod, with an exceptionally large abdomen. Two sharp blades were attached to the area near its head, making it look like a comical little ball with a few blades stuck on it. A large, exotic insect off his body. It was a meter-long worm that shone black, dragging along a strangely large abdomen with six stout legs. It looked very clumsy. The shell on the creature's back was open, and it flapped its wings from time to time. With a pair of short yet sharp pincers."

Introduced Zarathul Broodmother as everyone gaped at this revelation. People here knew what this meant. Being from not their world, then there existed only one possibility, it came through the Dimensional Path during the last Conjunction of Spheres.

"Yes, your thoughts are right. This being is a member of the insectoid race, called Worldeater Race, she told me that her kind was hunted by some being called Eternal Dragon in her world, being far stronger than The Great Red, and they were sold as weapons of war."

Said Zarathul as everyone looked at the image with amazement. Then it was Ajuka Beelzebub who was eager to know more, his soul was of the scientist.

"Truly fascinating, what are her abilities and strength?"

Asked Ajuka with an eager voice as he looked at Zarathul.

"She is far more intelligent than all of us together probably, her basic abilities is to create combat drones and other creatures which could either fight or have supporting roles. Her personal strength is also fearsome, as while only at Low-Class she could kill someone on the Mid-Class. Every one of her race could increase their strength by consuming materials such as bodies various races. Her innate ability allows her to analyze them to create more specialized combat units. Also, she requires a huge amount of Divinity to advance to the new Class. That is the reason why I am telling you this, as I need help in collecting the resources for her to advance. In return, we will supply Imperium with soldiers immune to Holy Energies and light attacks."

After Zarathul finished explanations, the room was deadly silent as everyone was thinking about this. Potential of the Broodmother was immense, but the resources required were equally immense.

"This could be a huge help for the Imperium, we need to do everything in our strength to help the Broodmother increase her strength. Also, she needs to be guarded constantly, until her strength is enough to protect herself."

Said Ajuka after short tough.

"She is currently constructing her nest in the Forest of Horrors, in my territory, in the territory of the Lucifer Clan, which was claimed by my Uncle Rizevima and currently is under renovation and reconstruction. I have also, ordered Squad of Temple Knights under the leadership of Master Diehauser Belial, Esdeath also started transporting bodies from Valefor Territory there and those of Grim Reapers and Olympian Warriors."

Said Zarathul, now his territory was undergoing huge renovations, as before his uncle didn't care about it and he just spent most of his time either lazying around or researching something. Zarathul's cousin Vali Lucifer was a complete battle maniac, who spent most of his time traveling and searching for strong opponents to fight.

He was the holder of the Divine Dividing, White Dragon of Supremacy. Vali was born as Human/Devil Hybrid, without inheriting either one of the clan traits of the Lucifer Clan, it was the reason why his father partially hated him until his father Lucian was killed by Rizevim. After the awakening of the Divine Dividing, Albion the White Dragon Emperor, changed his human part to the dragon, creating Dragon/Devil Hybrid. This move probably only strengthen Vali's thirst for battle, and thus he dropped his title as Heir of House Lucifer on Zarathul as he wasn't interested, another reason was that Zarathul inherited one of the clan traits of the Lucifer Clan.

"Yes, the retirement of the most top rankers of the Rating Games, caused quite stir, but nothing too serious. I also, personally think that it is time to already lessen drastically Rating Game significance in our society, fights in such sheltered environment are practically useless. Also, will Rizevim stay in the Lucifer Territory or not? If not, it would be best to send on of us, Super Devils to observe the Broodmother. It would be best if she was under the protection of Super Devil, in case if someone enough powerfull appeared."

Said Ajuka, creator of the Evil Pieces and Rating Games. At first Rating, Games served as entertainment, but now sadly they were becoming more and more important to society, it was not a good thing. Fight in the Rating Game were often sheltered and didn't have the feel of the true battle.

"Yes, Uncle Rizevim would be staying there. So there is no need to send Super Devil to protect the Broodmother. Still, I will request from all of you to excavate skeletons of Angels that remained in the Underworld so the Broodmoher could analyze them."

Even though not many people liked Rizevim, but still he was one of the most powerful devils that walked through Underworld, and at least he could be trusted when it came to his family, even though he killed his son for bad treatment of his grandson.

"Then that is good. We will immediately start collecting all the corpses we have from previous battles and excavate all battlefields for skeletons. They would still contain some energy in their bones. We need to raise the strength of the Broodmother as soon as possible."

Stated Zekram as the meeting of the Imperial High Council ended.

* * *

**So another chapter up... So several notes to chapter**

**1\. To battle between Zekram and Hades. As I have mentioned before, though Hades is on the list Top 10 in canon, in my opinion he is weak. He may have overwhelming Divine Power, but he is no warrior or fighter. He is a typical Ruler who is handling souls. Zekram defeated him due to several factors:**

**\- He is a seasoned fighter, who won countless battles and trained to achieve his level.**

**\- He is Super Devil in both Demonic Energy and Body Strength as he trained both of them to an extreme.**

**\- One of the few Sword Grandmaster of the Devil Race. Also, his katana is a special sword on the level of Divine Weapons, with passive effects to counter Divinity.**

**For example, if Zekram fought someone like Odin, results would be very hard to tell as Odin is also God of Magic and God of War beside being King of Gods. He is superior to Hades in all things and Odin has probably even more experiences than Zekram himself.**

**2\. The war between Imperium and Olympus. The reason why Olympus lost is pretty simple. **

**\- Firstly they lost the support of the Underworld as previously they had someone who was God of the Underworld. Grim Reapers were weakened drastically. **

**\- Secondly, they bought only a small part of their army and not many gods. There were only a few Olympian Gods there, and because the Greek Pantheon is also divided, meaning there are two more factions. Titans and Primordial Gods. Titans are imprisoned and Primordial Gods don't care about anything.**

**\- Thirdly, the timely arrival of Rizevim. Fights between Zeus/Sirzechs and Poseidon/Ajuka were in stalemate and arrival of Rizevim would change that. Poseidon was even at a small disadvantage as there was no sea or lake for him to empower himself.**

**Another thing, Thanatos was not killed in reality. He is Primordial God of Death, he lost because he was greatly weakened cause Olympus is under control of Olympian Gods and not Primordial Gods. Also, while he was killed, his physical body would reconstruct itself in some time as he is practically representation of Death in Greek Pantheon so it isn't that possible to kill him using ordinary means.**

**3\. About power levels. **

**\- The first thing to say about devils and why the Pure-Blood Devils are far superior to reincarnated ones and common devils are that by reaching maturity even most trashy of them are able to reach High-Class standart of strength. With the right training even reaching the Ultimate-Class isn't that problem.**

**\- Even for devils, reaching Ultimate-Class in Body Strength by training is limit. Further Classes would require Magic or Demonic Energy. For example, Sairaorg reached practically Ultimate-Class in Body Strength by pure training. For reaching Satan-Class there would be the need for some magical techniques. Super-Devil Class could be reached only by the usage of them.**


	6. Projects of the Imperium

**Chapter 6: Projects of the Imperium**

* * *

Fuerig Castle, Territory of the Lucifer Clan

After the meeting in the Capital City of the Imperium ended, Zarathul returned to the Fuerig Castle at his territory to oversee the reconstruction. Now that the armies of the Lucifer Clan and Lucifuge Clan returned to their rightful place, the revitalization could be started.

It took one month to completely renovate whole Fuerig Castle and all its surroundings. Now whole Lucifer Territory was completely secured and safe from enemies. In this one month, many things happened through the supernatural world.

1st one was that Olympus has closed its borders and even in the Underworld, they left behind many of their territories, which were devoured by the Imperium as soon as the Grim Reapers left them. The Imperium now controlled around 30% of the Underworld and there would be again one massive campaign against the remnants of the Old Satan Faction to reclaim lost territories and also against various stray groups, rogue fallen, and others non-affiliated groups that had territory in the Underworld.

2nd thing was that Zarathul was officially crowned as Crown Prince of the Imperium and also as the Lord Lucifer as nobody from his side of the family didn't have the interest in being Lord. His uncle Rizevim was usually lazying around the Fuerig Castle or he was closed in his laboratory researching god knows what. So this duty fell to Zarathul. On top of that, he was also officially recognized as the Satan-Class powerhouse.

3rd was complete re-structuralization in the Devil Society. It has begun with the speech of Bael Zekram to the nation the next day after the battle, where he criticized the state of devils, the fact that they had fallen deeply in the seven deadly sins, and especially the younger generation was virtually useless. Now was the time to move the whole Devil Society to the forwards and embrace the times of constant change.

And the last thing was preparations for another war. Now the military was completely re-structured, they had around 600,000 soldiers, from which 100,000 belonged to the Legions, which were all High-Class individuals in Magical Level and Body Level and remaining 500,000 were Mid-Class ordinary soldiers.

Then, of course, there were also, special units as Imperial Temple Knight Order, whom all people were at least Ultimate-Class of Magical Level and Body Level and all of them were Runic Knights at the same time.

Zarathul was constantly training for the past month, as he was trying to reach the Super Devil-Class Level of Power as soon as possible, because only then he would have some assurance that he would be able to accomplish his goals, well at least some of them.

Still, he managed to reach the 2nd-Tier Satan-Class Level of Power, both in magic and body strength, which was pretty good. He had perfectly grasped his new powers as the Satan-Class and also consolidated his energies inside of his body.

"Husband, the campaign would be starting soon. I think you should already stop the training for now."

Said gentle voice, as his beloved Grayfia appeared in elegant noble attire befitting for the lady of her status.

"I know, how is the state of things?"

Asked Zarathul in a bored voice as he was still sitting cross-legged and meditating.

"Sister Esdeath has prepared everything and the army is ready. I will be joining you on the battlefield, leading one of the battlemage legions. To the topic of your retainers, Kuroka is sleeping somewhere and Crom Cruach is in the Forest of Familiars to see Tiamat. Walter is at the Fuerig Castle, as he had managed to reach the Ultimate-Class."

Zarathul just nodded his head in agreement before getting another idea.

"What about those two Longinus-Tier Sacred Gears I have ordered to observe?"

Asked Zarathul as he was thinking about two useful Longinus-Tier Sacred Gears he wanted to obtain.

"We have already managed to secure one of them, [Incarnate Anthem], is already in our hands and would be soon transferred to you. It was secured by Lord Rizevim personally. In regard to the second Longinus, [Star Buster Star Blaster] is it in hands of some human magician names Shooting Star who has power around 1st-Tier Ultimate-Class thanks to the said Longinus, under dire circumstances, he could push his power up to the 3rd-Tier Satan-Class. The man himself is living in America, we are currently waiting for the next orders."

[Incarnate Anthem], was a special Longinus-Tier Sacred Gear that allowed Holy Flame Manipulation and was one of the three most powerful Holy Relicts, together with [Sephirol Grail] and [True Longinus]. Zarathul wanted to obtain this Sacred Gear for himself as he had a special method of how to fuse it with himself without any problem.

In regard to another Longinus-Tier Sacred Gear [Star Buster Star Blaster], he wanted to gift it to Esdeath as a gift, as it would suit to her combat style. She was also lacking high-quality weapon, and what was better than a weapon that could endlessly evolve to unprecedented heights.

"Excellent. I will take a squad of Temple Knights to go hunt down that man holding the Star Buster Star Blaster. This should not take more than one day, as we have a location of that Sacred Gear holder."

Said Zarathul as he stood up kissed Grayfia on her cheek, before leaving the room and going straightly for the place where the Imperial Temple Knight Order was staying. Obtaining Sacred Gears was one of the strategies of the Imperium to increase strength.

They would obtain Sacred Gear from humans by killing them and give it to the worthy and loyal members of Imperium, who were usually devils or other very long-lived races. This way, the Sacred Gears would stay in the hands of the Imperium for a very very long time. As one of the most important criterium in giving Sacred Gear was personal strength. Sacred Gear could be given only to someone who was Ultimate-Class of 1st-Tier both in body cultivation and magical cultivation.

Currently, Zarathul was taking with him one squad of Imperial Temple Knights, which were exactly ten people. On top of that, he was also taking with him one of the Masters of the Imperial Temple Knights, Diehauser Belial, someone on the Satan-Class Level.

Imperial Temple Knights were few in numbers, and because of that, they had a simple structure and chain of command. On the top of the order, was Grandmaster. Below him were two Masters of Order, namely Diehauser Belial and Ruval Phenex. Then there were Templar Rank, who were the third strongest members of the Order and after them there were Knights.

Imperial Temple Knight Master Diehauser Belial was a young-looking man like he was in his thirties with mild brown skin and short gray hair and gray eyes. His special bloodline called [Worthless] was able to nullify all energy-based attacks weaker than him. Coupled with the fact he was master in hand to hand combat and other martial arts, he was a nightmare for every magic-user.

"Diehauser, we are leaving for America to hunt down Sacred Gear holder Shooting Star as he has Longinus named [Star Buster Star Blaster] which I want to gift my fianceé Esdeath."

Ordered Zarathul. When they heard the name Esdeath many of them felt a shiver going down through their spine. Esdeath was a very infamous person through not only Imperium but rather through the whole Supernatural World.

"Yes, my Lord."

Belial Clan was originally one of the most loyal vassals of the original Lucifer together with Bael Clan and Lucifuge Clan. Zekram Bael even married the daughter of the Lucifer Clan. In regard to the Belial Clan, Diehauser was chosen as a personal retainer of the Zarathul.

"Shooting Star is someone on the Ultimate-Class level of power, mainly to his Sacred Gear, by the information available, in his Balance Breaker state he is comparable to the 3rd-Tier Satan-Class. Our plan is simple, we will locate the target and stealthy attack to knock him out so we could extract the Sacred Gear from his soul."

* * *

Human World, North America, Texas

After Zarathul and squad of ten Imperial Temple Knights arrived at America, Texas they started searching for the Shooting Star. After a while, they finally managed to track him down. As Zarathul ordered, all of them proceeded to seal the area where the Shooting Star was located.

Capturing someone was always harder than to kill someone, as when you are capturing your target you need to be careful to not kill him accidentally and also most importantly you need to have much higher power than your target. After they sealed the space, they attacked their target.

Shooting Star was a young-looking man in his twenties in a cowboy outfit. Fortunately, he didn't sense the sealed space, as they were using even some artifacts to hide their presence as this must be as clean as possible.

Zarathul took out his treasured spear, Gáe Bolg and covered it with countless Magic Seals, that had a single effect. Sealing the target. Then he aimed at the Shooting Star and at his command he and Diehauser, attacked at the same time, aiming at the arms of the Shooting Star, as they wanted to cripple him firstly.

As their target was completely taken by surprise, his right arm was severed upon content with Zarathul's Gáe Bolg and his left arm was torn out by Diehauser who attacked only a second after. After the attack, Zarathul knocked the cowboy Sacred Gear holder out and applied two healing Magic Seals to stop the bleeding and preserve his life, as he needed to be alive during the process.

Problem with Sacred Gears was that they returned back to Heaven when the Sacred Gear holder died, so they were never true holders of the gear. Only recently Ajuka Beelzebub together with Rizevim found out a way how to modify Sacred Gears so they would truly become part of the holder. When the holder died, the Sacred Gear would stay in his corpse instead.

"Good work everyone. Now we must extract the [Star Buster Star Blaster] Sacred Gear as soon as possible from his body and disappear back to the Imperium. I have a weird feeling about this guy, nobody in the world knew that the [Star Buster Star Blaster] evolved from normal Sacred Gear into Longinus, someone was covering for him, and the only faction that has interest in the Sacred Gears are Fallen Angels of Grigori... meh, we should be going."

Said Zarathul, as his subordinates appeared out of nowhere and took the body of the Shooting Star to the already prepared place, where the ritual was taking place. To the ritual itself, the extraction of the Sacred Gear took only several minutes until it was done and Zarathul was holding in his hands weird white blueish orb, which was the Longinus Star Buster Star Blaster.

Then he conjured one ball of the [Power of Destruction] with his new style which he called [Truth-Seeking Orb Style] and incarnated body of the Shooting Star to the oblivion, together with the entire place where the ritual was taking place.

[Truth-Seeking Orb Style] was inspired after Sirzech's style of controlling the [Power of Destruction], [Ruin the Extinct]. He was now capable of creating the Orbs out of the [Power of Destruction], which acted as his defense and offense. Compared to the [Gate of Babylon Style] which required his full attention, his new style was more of a passive form. Though it lacked the massiveness and wideness of the [Gate of Babylon Style] where he could literally create hundreds or thousands of weapons by using the [Power of Destruction].

"Also, destroy all magical signatures in the are of several tens of kilometers."

Ordered Zarathul after destroying this whole place down.

* * *

After returning tot he Imperium, he needed to give the [Star Buster Star Blaster] to Ajuka for research and additional modifications. All Sacred Gears of the Imperium were undergoing similar procedures, while one of the reasons was that they could learn more about them, another was to modify them to be out of the Heaven's range, they were even able to fool the Heaven System to think that they were still tied to the Heaven's System.

After Zarathul arrived at the Ajuka's place, he was practically robbed of the Sacred Gear [Star Buster Star Blaster] the moment he arrived. As Ajuka was a fanatical scientist who loved to research things, new Sacred Gear was the perfect material of research for him, at least for now.

"I heard even you obtained Longinus-Tier Sacred Gear. Which one? And can I research it?"

Asked Ajuka as he was inspecting the [Star Buster Star Blaster] after he took it from Zarathzul who was just sitting on the couch and observing the whole situation with mild interest.

"[Incarnate Anthem] is the one. With this, I would be able to control the Holy Flame and maybe even combine it with my own bloodline to create a whole new Clan Trait. I already have some ideas on how to fuse the [Incarnate Anthem] with my soul, but I have yet to figure out how to transform it onto Clan Trait."

[Incarnate Anthem] was a very powerful Longinus-Tier Sacred Gear as it allowed to control Holy Flame. Now that Zarathul would be able to control the Holy Flame, he would be able to increase his own resistance towards the Holy Element and also, he would have the best weapon against everything of Dark Element. This Holy Flame would be best against powerfull Stray Devils or some dark and evil creatures from beyond the [Dimensional Gap] when the Conjunction of Spheres would happen.

"Hmm... fusing the Sacred Gear to the bloodline to make it the Clan Trait, probably one of the craziest ideas I have ever heard, but I think it could work under very specific circumstances."

Sighed Ajuka after short thought.

"And those are what?"

"I have a faint idea on how to do it, but you will need to obtain some materials at first. Especially the Blood Essence of the mature Phoenix, though you won't obtain immense regeneration, your healing factor would be very terrifying, probably even superior to the Phenex Family. And to them, if you manage to obtain more then one, if you sell it to them, they will pay you anything you ask. Another thing would be Blood Essence from the mature Flame Dragon and a few others. The real deal here is that the [Incarnate Anthem] though of the Flame Type, is the Holy Flame and when you are Devil of Lucifer Clan and have some resistance to the Holy Element it is not enough, so firstly you will need to obtain those Flame type treasures to make yourself suitable for such fusion to your bloodline and then you could slowly integrate the [Incarnate Anthem] not only with your soul but rather make it one with your bloodline."

Explained Ajuka about his initial idea. For the devil, it was suicide to make the Holy Flame Clan Trait, but if it succeeded, it would be an unprecedented success. Not only this one but rather they would be able to create a whole new Clan Trait and revitalize the 72 Pillar Houses by making new Pillar Houses with the usage of Sacred Gears, though it would require many treasures and many precious materials to make even one of them. Still, it was worth it.

It was common knowledge that devils of the 72 Pillars or Extra Demon Clans were far superior to those common devils, thanks to their Clan Traits. During the old time of the Original Lucifer all Pillar Devils, even the weakest of them was able to achieve the High-Class Level of Power both in Body Cultivation and Demonic / Magical Cultivation, while most of the easily achieved the Ultimate-Class at least in one of them, with training. After the times of the Original Lucifer, the devil race declined too much, fortunately, with the creation of the Imperium, times of decline came to an end.

"If this is a success, we could create several new Noble Houses and drastically strengthen the Imperium as a whole. Also, I wanted to ask, how is the Project Code: Devil Blood going?"

Asked Zarathul after a short thought. Project Code: Devil Blood was a secret project on purifying the Devil Bloodline in the devils with mixed heritage, truth to be told, only for the ones with human heritage, to turn them completely into pure-blooded devils. While Imperium let of descendants of the mixed heritage to be Clan Lords of Devil Houses, all of them had heritage either of youkai or some strong supernatural creatures, while one of them was even dragon. Humans had the lowest potential out of all, it was forbidden for someone even with a bit of human blood to have some position in the Imperium, thus the Project Code: Devil Blood has invented to purify the bloodline and for those with mixed heritage, with a human heritage for them to became pure-blood devils. After some time, it was extended for some members of the other races of the Imperium as the human blood was holding them down and it was a problem that needed to be solved.

"We are making some minor advances and recently we have opened talks with the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Court about a trade of information. They apparently have something that could help us at least slightly so Serafall is negotiating with them about that. I have also, one good news though. We have managed to locate the holder of the Innovate Clear."

When Ajuka finished this sentence, it seemed like the time itself frozen. Obtaining [Innovate Clear] was one of the Top-Secret missions of the Imperium marked with the highest priority. This particular Longinus, Innovate Clear's abilities are said to be an idealized version of both Dimension Lost and Annihilation Maker, the ability to create an artificial pocket universe that can create and support life. However, anything created in there can only live in that universe.

[Innovate Clear] was very special Longinus thanks to this ability as creatures created by it are real and permanent, not like those of the [Annihilation Maker] which were temporal. When creating something with [Innovate Clear] you are using the energy of the Universe itself so you will get perfect creatures. One of the things, that Imperium needed most now, were Mana Crystals, the concentration of pure mana. They were used in technology or in the cultivation of Demonic Energy or Body Cultivation with Magic Body Infusement Technique, but sadly Mana Crystals were too scarce and too precious. Fortunately, they had ancient records of the Conjunction of Spheres where were many races described when they were born with Mana Crystal. So the plan was simple, they planned to capture the [Innovate Clear] and use the pocket world as the Monster World, which would be used to harvest Mana Crystals.

"Where? We have been searching for that one for a very long time, but it also slipped through our fingers."

Said Zarathul in frustration as he looked at Ajuka.

"Yes, but now we have an identity of the holder. A Japanese human male named Mitsuya Kanzaki, not much is known about him, only that he was even marked by the Grigori as dangerous and apparently he had some enmity with Slash Dog."

Stated Ajuka as he showed Zarathul profile of the Mitsuya Kanzaki, while they didn't have much information on him, they still managed to find his location and place where he was living. Now the only thing that remained was to capture and extract the Sacred Gear.

"Who will be doing the job?"

Asked Zarathul curiously.

"Sirzechs will take care of it with his peerage and he took even a few of his best Legion Commanders. [Innovate Clear] is too important to the whole Imperium as we could obtain a huge amount of resources, so we must be prepared for everything. Five out of ten Legions were mobilized and even Devil Emperor ordered for the Imperial Temple Knights to be on stand by."

Zarathul just nodded his head in agreement. If they obtained the [Innovate Clear] and managed to produce Mana Stones, it would greatly enhance the strength of the Imperium and they would be able to close the gap with strong Pantheons such as Hindu Pantheon, Asgard or Shinto Pantheon or Jade Emperor's Celestial Court.

"Then we can only hope that nothing happens and Sirzechs would return with good news to us."

* * *

After Zarathul left Ajuka, he went to the Esdeath's place together with his gift [Star Buster Star Blaster]. He was in a pretty good mood, as he managed to obtain a perfect gift for his beautiful fianceé and even got some important news and all of them were good ones.

Zarathul was surprised to find Esdeath at the Fuerig Castle, as she should be currently preparing a new invasion to reclaim the remaining territories of the extinct Pillars. Currently, they had managed to re-conquer many lost territories and expanded the territory of the Imperium. Now the Imperium controlled around 35% of the whole First Layer of the Underworld.

"Esdeath what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be preparing for the next campaign?"

Asked Zarathul surprised that Esdeath wasn't in her usual location, which was Military Headquarters of the Imperium. When the Imperium was created, in regards to the military, she was only one level below Marshall of Imperium, as she was Legion General alongside Sirzechs.

"I was waiting for you. We are going to attack the core territories of the Old Satan Faction consisting of the Marbas, Marchosias, Maplhas, Halphas, Andrealphus, and Andromalius territories. They are the last bastion of the Old Satan Faction and it was decided by Marshall Bai Qi, that this would be a good opportunity to dispose of them entirely."

Truthfully Zarathul wasn't surprised, even though they lost almost most of their army, the Imperium was currently restructuring their existing territory, so they didn't have time to attack and conquer more lost territories of the Extinct Pillars.

"Why not, I don't have much to do anyway currently besides training. Also, I have a gift for you."

As he said that, he handed her the Orb which was the [Star Buster Star Blaster] Longinus-Tier Sacred Gear. Esdeath caught it with interest, and only by injecting some of her Demonic Energy she found out that this Orb was, in reality, Longinus, that suited her. She showed a sweet smile before hugging Zarathul closely.

"My husband gave a perfect gift for me once again, so tonight... there will be a surprise..."

Whispered Esdeath in seductive voice to Zarathul with slightly blushing on her face, that completely contrasted to her outfit and role as Legion General of Imperium Legions and fearsome warrior.

* * *

Forrest of Horrors

Forrest of Horrors was one of the forbidden places in the Underworld due to many dangerous species living there. It was very close to the Fuerig Castle in the Lucifer Territory. Currently, the whole Forest of Horrors was swarming with soldiers of the Lucifer Clan, other personnel and even squad of the Imperial Temple Knights were permanently stationed there. Not talking about one of Super Devils of the Imperium, his uncle Rizevim Livan Lucifer who was also there together with his retainer Euclid Lucifuge a Satan-Class devil.

"My Lord."

A voice that greeted him, belonged to the retainer of his uncle, Euclid Lucifuge, a younger brother of Grayfia. Euclid is a young handsome looking man appearing in his early twenties with silver hair that is tied in a braided hairstyle. He wears a silver robe with detailed accessories. One could say that he was fanatically loyal to the Lucifer Clan, with his undying loyalty and devotion.

"Hello, Euclid. How is the Broodmother doing?"

Asked Zarathul as this was the purpose of his visit here. The last time he was here to check up on the Broodmother it was when he moved to the Fuerig Castle, around one month ago and started living there.

"Devouring everything we throw into the Forest of Horrors. The entire forest that was once full of various dangerous beasts is now full of drones and first combat units she can create, Hydralisks. We have delivered to her more than thirty thousand corpses, one hundred thousand skeletons of various races we have found in the Underworld, through many battlefield sides and several thousand living prisoners. Now the entire Forest of Horrors is basically nest for the Worldeater race, turning into an impenetrable fortress, if the Broodmother achieves the Ultimate-Class, I believe even the squad of the Imperial Temple Knights would have a huge problem staying alive in that place."

Reported Euclid to Zarathul who showed satisfied smile hearing this, and then he proceeded deeper into the Forest of Horrors, well former forest, now the Nest of Worldeater Swarm. When he entered the nest, he immediately sensed the Broodmother and she sensed him.

"Feikenbollo Sillo, I see that you are getting better and better. Your strength is already slowly returning to you as I see."

Said Zarathul as he was standing in front of the Broodmother Feikenbollo Sillo, who was now several times bigger than before. She stood proudly on the four huge legs, and her two pairs of eyes were looking directly at Zarathul. On her head, she had two sharp horns and her mandibles were looking like two sharp scythes.

"Yes, slowly yes."

Said mechanic voice belonging to the last Broodmother of the Worldeater Race.

"How have you progressed on analysis of the various races?"

Asked Zarathul with anticipation, as this was one of the most important moments of the day.

"Analysis on the races Devil / Angel / Fallen Angel crossed 300%, all of the three races are coming from the same root, so from a certain point, additional procedures are becoming easier, now I am able to create units with some resistance to the Holy Element. Human analysis is completed as in the previous dimension I have devoured millions of them, and I have managed to make a progress on the analysis of the God race to 50%. Also, many of more mischievous races and analysis were obtained."

Reported Feikenbollo Sillo in usual mechanic voice to Zarathul who was very pleased with this answer.

"What types of drones could you create?"

Zarathul wondered about this for a long time as the Broodmother never mentioned it to him before.

"When I was on the peak of my strength, I have focused on the elite units and specialized ones. Usually, the broodmother would decide style of her unit making, either she will choose the quality or quantity. I have chosen the quality and I have created only a few types of troops, while all of them had perfect genome and abilities, and now after analyzing more races, I have managed to make many improvements.

Drone:

Basic building drone of the Worldeater Swarm. They are small workers that are the foundation of the Swarm as they are responsible for obtaining materials for Broodmother and many other mischievous things.

Hydralisk:

Hydralisks are covered in armored plates. The average Hydralisk was 5.4m long. 3 - 3.5m tall, and weighed anything from 500 kg to 1000kg. At "cruising speed," they could move at terrifyingly high speed. They also showed their dangerous streak by shooting powerful spines coated in toxin, their claws were sharp as scythes and their armor plates were far more durable than any metal. Priding in high Magical Resistance and resistance to many elements they were perfect warriors of the Worldeater Race, brutal, efficient, terrifying and yet elegant, flexible and obedient. All these traits were forged into a single dangerous weapon named Hydralisk.

Tyranid Warrior:

Huge humanoid insect, around 5m tall, weighting usually more than 2000kg. They are more intelligent compared to the Hydralisks and far more dangerous. They are elite soldiers of the Worldeater Swarm, created on the analysis of many different species. In regard to their intelligence, they are able to command a big amount of Hydralisks on their own and even to learn or use weapons. They also have higher resistance towards various forms of energy or elements.

Swarmlord

The Swarmlord in a uniquely powerful Worldeater bioform based on the records and genetics of countless races across the Dimensions. Compared to the previous units, they are born with zero combat strength as they are capable of evolution and cultivation. Each Broodmother could only create four of them. They are of various forms and shapes, depending on the intention of the Broodmother. Swarmlords are extremely intelligent, far superior to any A.I. and are genius commanders. Adult Swarmlord is more terrifying on the battlefield, where they are regarded at natural calamities, thanks to their personal strength and commanding abilities.

For now, I am able to create only the Hydralisks from combat units. When I reach the Ultimate-Class I should be able to create Tyranid Warrior and on the Super-Devil Class, I would be able to make Swarmlords."

All units were extremely formidable, and even Hydralisks were around Middle-Class and when the Broodmother reached the Ultimate-Class she would be able to raise their combat power by some amount. The combat power of the Tyranid Warrior was Ultimate-Class. Of course, stronger the broodmother was, stronger her units would be.

"What exactly you need to create the Swarmlord?"

In regard to the Swarmlord, they were category itself. They could reach unprecedented highs. Even one of them would be an extreme boon to the Imperium if enough time was given to them.

"In regard to the Swarmlord, there is a completely different process in the creation of Swarmlord and other units. In order to create other units, I only need Biomass and some of my energy, now it is Demonic Energy and I can create any ordinary unit I desire. When creating the Swarmlord, I need the material base, so the corpse of formidable being at least at the level of Super-Devil is needed and also the arduous amount of divinity and Demonic Energy needed."

* * *

**Hi there, another chapter after a bit longer time... there will be one more chapter in the next two weeks... please leave your reviews...**


	7. Annoucement

**I have published new story Tower of Asura... crossover with ToG with elements of DxD... check it out... it is right now my main focus. **


	8. Annoucement Read it Important!

**Hello there... I have an announcement here... I am taking down Immortal Warlock and Code Fate. Both stories would be deleted from here.**

**Immortal Warlock is a novel published on webnovel... so it would also remain there. Many of you have noticed, that chapters of Immortal Warlock are 1k in length, while here on I am releasing five of them together as one chapter. So for those who want to read that, go to Webnovel.**

**Now, to the Code: Fate... the story is going on indefinite hiatus, or probably dropping it. I will probably rewrite it at later date, as an idea of a strong Holy Britannia Empire, and all of that is good, but the cross-overs were chosen badly. I will write something like that when I chose some right cross-over world or something that. For those who want to read those two chapters, they would remain on Webnovel.**

**Lastly Devil Emperor. Hmm... this is rather hard, to decide what with this fic. The idea was good, but I seriously need to rewrite most of its parts there. I don't know exactly what to do with that one. I will decide based on how will writing Tower of Asura go. As the Tower of Asura would also have the DxD world shown... we will see...**

**Now I am publishing actively only two novels on , namely Mahouka: Irregular Fate and Tower of Asura. The release rate for Tower is one chapter per one/two months as one chapter is 20k, and the release rate for Mahouka would be one/two chapters per month.**

**Thank you for your support and... both Code: Fate and Immortal Warlock would be taken down from one week later**


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